Wrought Iron Hero
by Snapers
Summary: Shirou knew accepting the offer would have a catch, but he couldn't resist the chance of seeing her again. The blasted Grail may have thrown him a curve ball, but he wasn't going to waste his opportunity. He could finally reunite with Saber at Fairy Tail... he just had to find a way out of Grimoire Heart first...
1. Chapter 1

_"So will you accept?_

Those words sold his fate. Four simple words that promised him everything at the cost of everything. Those words were his chance to break the mold. They were his chance to finally leave the service of the World... but was it worth it?

The life of a Counter Guardian was horrendous. Archer was right in wanting to kill him before their dream led them to this. Everyday he died a little inside, and everyday he strived to find a way out of Alaya's grasp. The collective desire of humanity wanting to survive had enslaved him just like it did to his future self.

He had failed to heed Archer's warning, but that didn't mean it was over yet.

"I..." he took a deep breath, "Who are you?" he asked to the random voice that had appeared in head. It's sound was noticeable, but he couldn't make out any details of it. It was a voice, but he couldn't tell if it was male or female, young or old, good or evil... and yes, he had encountered enough evil people to be able to tell what they sounded like.

 _"I'll tell you if you accept!"_ it said, almost mockingly.

As much as he wanted to find the speaker and punch him... or her... _it_. As much as he wanted to punch _it_ he couldn't. It offered him an offer so absurd, so _unlikely,_ that he actually kinda believed it. No normal person, or even deity, could offer him such an offer so confidently.

The voice had offer him to reunite with _her_ again. That stupid, condescending voice had actually offered, in full seriousness, to do something that even Alaya could never do. Something that he doubted Gaia would, maybe even could, do.

"There's a catch," he said. There was always a catch... that was how Alaya got him roped into the whole Counter Guardian business. The prospect of becoming a hero and saving people enticed him in, but he was never told he had to murder thousands of people in order to save millions. Even with Archer warning him that the grass was actually not greener, it still sounded too good to let up.

And this offer was even sweeter.

 _"I said it before. I will reunite you with your lost love, with Saber. All you have to do is say yes."_

"And that's it? You reunite me with Saber and then we never talk again?"

 _"Of course not!"_

"Then tell me what you expect from me." He promised Archer that he would be different, and he would. This was his chance to prove that he could actually change his fate.

 _"Fine... I'll tell you. A long, long time ago I created something powerful. It's nowhere near as strong as I am, but I can't interfere with that world despite how fun it is. My creation is going to try to destroy his world, and it'll be great to watch. I've been looking for pieces to make it more interesting, and that was when I stumbled upon both you and your loved one."_

"If your creation will actually destroy the world then as a Counter Guardian I will run into him eventually."

 _"Oh, did I forget to mention that I'm talking about another dimension? And that she's already in there?"_

"Another... dimension?" The only person he knew of who could do that was Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, the user of Kaleidoscope, the ability to travel between parallel worlds. Perhaps there was a timeline where Saber didn't go away and...

 _"Don't compare my power to the petty Second Magic. The world I am talking about is not a parallel of yours, it is a completely different universe with different properties and different worldly continuity."_

"Wouldn't that mean Gods are different over there?" The concept of universes, while completely unproven by anyone, was that 'universes' were parallel dimensions that were created right before the Big Bang, the biggest concentrated blast of magic that created everything around them. The way the Big Bang played out was different every time, making each universe unique. Each universe had an infinite amount of 'worlds', which were the parallel timelines in which something did or didn't happen. Every single picosecond something different happened, spawning multiple different worlds.

The only thing that could possible do that was Akasha, the root of all in his world. Akasha was basically the bank of all possible events and thing in the universe. It was where things like Heroic Spirits resided. Zeltretch, in his prime, could easily traverse through worlds, but his power was a creation of Akasha, therefore nowhere as strong.

This voice said he could accomplish something that, theoretically, even Akasha couldn't do. Akasha _was_ the universe, it was everything he knew.

 _"Akasha is the root of your universe. When you accept my offer you will be transported to a completely different tree with completely different roots."_

"I... I haven't even achieved reaching the Root, so I cannot begin to comprehend how that would be possible. All I can make out is that, in order to do that, you are stronger than anything I have ever encountered. Are you even more powerful than Akasha?"

 _"...no,"_ the voice said after a reasonable silence. _"Normally, I cannot transport between universes. I am smart, however, and found a loophole that will allow me a little more enjoyment, so I am trying to take full advantage of it."_

"That doesn't sound safe, in fact, it sounds like a death sentence."

 _"But then you will never reunite with her again. You're an interesting guy. Interesting enough that I decided to reward you for keeping me entertained. Is that not good enough?"_

Well... when it phrased it that way...

"What loophole?"

 _"Will you accept my offer?"_

"Yes," he said after a few moments, "I will, but I wish to know how."

The voice laughed. _"I will tell you, but you must first make an official agreement. Denounce yourself of this world and accept being taken to a new one."_

"I, Shirou Emiya, will allow myself to be transported by..."

 _"Ankhseram,"_ the voice supplied, finally revealing it's name.

"...Ankhseram to a different dimension, as I renounce myself of this one."

 _"Fantastic."_

"You still owe me information."

 _"Ah yes. Now Shirou, you won a contest a while ago, that's how!"_

"A contest?" Shirou's brow scrunched in confusion. "The only thing I can think about is being the ten thousandth shopper at the Fuyuki Junes branch and... that's it."

 _"Oh how can you forget?"_ The voice laughed, clearly very amused. _"There was one contest that you, in a convoluted way, won. You were decided the true winner of the contest... despite destroying the prize."_

Destroying the prize?

Shirou's eyes widened.

"No..."

 _"Yes! Shirou Emiya, this is your prize for winning the Fifth Holy Grail War! The World still owed you a wish for winning, but it can't grant the wish now that the Holy Grail is gone. It will, however, allow me to take you away without any issue as your repayment for winning! That's what happened with your servant, she wanted to start over so I took her to my universe!"_

"But... but the Grail was corrupted, was it not?"

He was met with silence.

"Hello?"

 _"...the others didn't bring that up. You're smarter than I took you for, Shirou, and I don't appreciate that. I just dropped the girl into my universe and basically let her run her own destiny, only giving subtle pushes in a better direction. You, however, gave me a fantastic idea. Yes, the Grail was corrupted, and if you were to wish for something it would turn out horribly convoluted."_

Like if one were to wish to be the smartest person on the planet then they would remain the same while everyone else became cavemen. If one were to ask to be the most beautiful, then everyone else would become horrible scarred or deformed. The Grail was evil, hiding under the ruse of holy.

 _"You deserve a corrupted wish since your prize is from a corrupted Grail. Yes... yes this will be much more interesting. I was never one for tragic love stories, but this will truly be the best entertainment I have had for a while..."_

"What are you going to do?" he asked quietly, finally finding his voice.

 _"Oh, don't worry Shirou. Maybe one day you could reunite with her, but for now I have the perfect punishment for your annoying questions. I hope your new master treats you well, Shirou... or should I say Servant?"_

* * *

It was suppose to be an easy mission, yet it was anything but.

Actually, Mirajane knew she was kidding. The mission was an S-Rank job that detailed killing the proclaimed 'King of Beasts' that was terrorizing the countryside. The mission seemed anything but easy, yet she still decided to take her family on it.

It was arrogance, no doubt. Erza was getting bigger gains in every department than her, and she meant _bigger_ gains _everywhere_. It was no fair! Absolutely no fair! Where did that tomato even come from?

Erza was in contention to take this job, which was exactly why she took it as soon as she could and rushed out the door, her loyal siblings in tow. She wanted the glory so bad... so bad.

That, coupled with her arrogance, was her downfall.

How stupid of her... how so damn stupid...

The minute she laid eyes on the gargantuan beast the first thing she did was sneer. Was this the monster causing so many issues? It looked like a pushover. While she could see how it could cause some people problems (cough Erza cough), she was Mirajane Strauss, The Demon of Fairy Tail.

It was suppose to be easy.

She was demolished.

Well... she put up a decent fight, managing to do as much damage as she could. The damage did nothing more than enrage the beast, however, and make it numb to the pain. It was surprisingly fast, and it's size held no lie towards it's strength. It both hit and moved like a speeding train.

As she kneeled on the ground, she couldn't accept the fact she was going to die. Death was a known factor for this lifestyle, but the enchantment and excitement of being in a guild made her forget that she was, indeed, fighting for her life. Mage life was more than just the fun and adrenaline, it was actual life or death situations.

"Tch," she looked down as the beast approached, "looks like you win, Erza."

And then her sweet baby brother came to her rescue.

It hit her how horrible of a sister she was as Elfman struggled to control the beast he attempted to takeover. She was an S-Ranked mage, not them. What kind of sister was she? How could she willingly take her two younger siblings, the only family she has left, on dangerous jobs?

"Elfman!" Lisanna ran towards the monst... no, their _brother_.

"Lisanna stop!" she yelled.

Her sister paid her a single glance. "If we don't help we'll lose him forever. I can't lose you guys."

No...

No!

"Lisanna!" She could feel her breath intensify as her sister ran towards their feral brother, who looked upon them without a hint of recognition. "Please!"

How could she do nothing!? Elfman locked onto Lisanna, his massive claws rising.

How could she not help!? How could this happen!? Why wasn't it her up there!?

Elfman swung his claw at Lisanna...

But was knocked away last second. Something hit Elfman's massive form and sent him flying away into the forest.

Mirajane's eyes widened, as did Lisanna's.

"Mirajane," a stern female voice said, "I expected more from you."

She was stunning. Her height was below average, but the way she carried herself made up for than tenfold. Her blonde, braided hair was so beautiful it looked like it was sprinkled with gold. She had an undoubtedly dignified and attractive face, with her stern green eyes not even glancing towards the direction she had launched Elfman. She had a blue dress with armor plates on it and a Heart Kreutz logo, obviously custom made.

Flowing down her back was a majestic blue cape lined with fur, and onto of her head was an ornate golden crown signifying her status.

"It's... it's you," Mirajane stared at the person in front of her. "Arturia Pendragon Dreyar, Fairy Tail's King of Knights."

* * *

The black fire spread around the town at an alarming rate. People screamed as they were killed all around. Nobody was safe from the slaughter.

Ultear didn't particularly love it, but it was necessary. Zancrow could burn as many people as he wanted into ash as long as they found what they were looking for. The death was acceptable as long as they could acquire the means to Zeref.

He was the goal of Grimoire Heart, and they would stop at nothing to achieve it.

"Kain," she said to a massive man behind her. "I want you to prevent anyone from escaping. There might be a chance someone will run with the artifacts we're looking for."

The large man stuttered something in response, but he honestly meant so little to her that she didn't bother to listen. He would do what he was told or face death at her hands.

Ultear approached the middle of the village, where the town hall stood. She launched a teal orb around the size of a volleyball at the wooden doors, tearing them off the hinges and revealing two startled guards.

Her orb smashed into one's head, sending him to the ground. The other one charged at her with a spear extended. As he got near she twisted away from a thrust and wrapped her hand around the man's throat. She held him up and stared deeply into his eyes as she choked in, taking in every emotion that ran through his eyes.

Pain, fear, agony, desperation, defeat, regret and then acceptance. It was the same for so many other people she killed.

She dropped the corpse to the ground and continued to walk towards the building, stopping only to end the other guard with her foot. She frowned at the blood and brain on her soles as she entered the town hall and gracefully walked up towards the mayors office.

As she opened the doors the mayor, a pink haired man with bright, almost teal looking eyes, fired a revolver at her. Ultear's eyes glowed as the bullets quickly started to age hundreds of years until they were nothing more than dust flying past her. The mayor's eyes widened as she walked towards him, and he fired more bullets that only met the same fate.

She stood right on the other side of his desk as he continued to pull the trigger. The empty clicks of the gun made her smirk as she watched the man desperately scramble into a drawer to find more ammunition.

"The struggle is cute," she said as one of her orbs smashed the man in the side of the head, sending him flying to the side.

Ultear walked over to the picture of the village's founder on the side of the room and knocked it to the side, revealing a safe.

Her eyes shone as she placed her hand on it. The safe started to age and rust before her eyes. She rose her other hand and magic started to visible form in it, creating a glowing sword. She slashed at the safe, cutting the door clean off.

Inside was a old wooden box.

The black fire Zancrow had created was shining through the windows, illuminating the box almost too perfectly. Ultear lifted the box and walked over to the Mayor's desk and sitting in his chair. She placed the box on his desk and slowly undid the single latch keeping it shut.

There were only two things inside of it. One was an old, folded piece of paper, but she set it aside as the other thing it contained caught her attention much more. It was a beautiful chain pendant that led down into a ornate silver piece with a cross on it that held a red gem that was simply stunning. Ultear couldn't stop staring at it as it glowed in the limited lighting.

She grabbed the paper and opened it. There was only two parts to it.

The first half was a drawing that was in a dark red that was unmistakably blood. It was, in a simplified description, a circle with a six pointed star and multiple symbols inside of it. The other half had a long string of words on it with the heading 'SUMMONING RITUAL' labeled on the top.

Ultear stared at it, and then the jewel, before something in her mind just _clicked_.

* * *

The mayor had enough blood to make the summoning circle, luckily.

This was it. This must be the summoning of Zeref.

She was finally going to see the target of all her dreams and desires.

Ultear stared at the circle and started to chant.

 _"Let silver and steel be the essence._  
 _Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation._  
 _Let black be the color I pay tribute to._  
 _Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall._  
 _Let the four cardinal gates close._  
 _Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate._

 _Let it be declared now;_  
 _your flesh shall serve under me, and my fate shall be with your sword._  
 _Submit to the beckoning of my call._  
 _Answer, if you would submit to this will and this truth._

 _An oath shall be sworn here._  
 _I shall attain all virtues of all of Heaven;_  
 _I shall have dominion over all evils of all of Hell."_

A blinding blue glow and a raging wind started to erupt from the circle as she chanted. Ultear gritted her teeth but continued, feeling the power culminate all around her.

 _"From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power,_  
 _come forth from the ring of restraint, protector of the holy balance!"_

The light blinded her for a moment, and when she regained her sight a man stood in front of her.

He was tall, just above six feet. His hair was red, but there was a noticeable streak of white in it. His skin was a light color, but there was some small streaks of a dark tan on his arm and neck, just barely avoiding his face. He had black, sleeveless body armor with silver trimming and black pants with multiple straps tied around it going down to combat boots. There was a red robe tied around his waste that went down to below his knees. His right arm was bare, but his left arm had a red sleeve going down to his wrist.

Ultear stared.

"I ask you," he stared straight into Ultear's eyes with his dark golden brown eyes, "are you my master?"

Ultear looked at her hand and saw an intricate red tattoo glowing.

She smirked.

"Yes... I am your master."

In a barren wasteland, filled with nothing but swords, it slowly started to snow.


	2. Chapter 2

For **Lucy** , the opportunity of a lifetime was somewhere in this stupid town. Hargeon was nice, and the food decent, but it was all a little to... lower class for her standards. She wanted something bigger. Something more extravagant.

Something like Fairy Tail.

"Are you serious?" she asked to the random passerby. "Is Natsu the Salamander really here?"

At the affirmative nod she bolted away.

Natsu the Salamander was one of Fairy Tail's up and coming stars whose destructive nature made him a teen favorite. The only info Lucy could get about him was from the Sorcerer's Magazine, which only had pictures of his destruction as of yet.

She could only imagine what such a famous mage could look like...

The giant crowd of raging women was enough of a signal for her. Of course all these girls were swooning over a member of Fairy Tail, not just any run-of-the-mill D-rank fodder, but a legit A-Ranked mage with apparently a Forbidden Magic. He was literally a celebrity due to the many articles in the many magazines about him and his tendencies. It was surreal to know that someone of his caliber was actually here.

Just talk to him and show him the keys, she thought. Any mage, especially one as renowned as the Salamander, would know how rare and special a Celestial Mage really is. She even had one of the Zodiac Keys, a feat that only the richest, or luckiest, could really accomplish.

In her haste she didn't notice the shorter figure she bumped into.

"Oh my!" Lucy cried as she stumbled off balance. She turned to the cloak figure she bumped into. "Are you alright?"

The figure looked at her, and Lucy could see a young female face under the hood of the cloak. Pink strands of hair fell over the childish features and bright green eyes, but the blank expression on her face ruined the innocent child look.

"I'm fine," she said in a plain tone.

"Ah, great." Lucy looked around awkwardly. "Are you here to see the Salamander?"

The girl shrugged. "I did," she said, before frowning slightly, "but the one I saw looks like a complete fraud. I would be careful around that one, I can feel the traces of Charm Magic from him."

"Charm Magic?" Lucy questioned. "The magazines never mentioned him using that..."

"Excuse me!" a male voice called from behind them. "There you are!"

Lucy turned and saw a tall red haired man walking towards them, his eyes on the cloaked girl. She took a second to admire his form. He showed no sign of trying to hide the fact that he was a warrior. Her eyes lingered on his muscles for a tad longer before she looked him in the eyes.

"Yes?" she asked, a tad wistfully.

The man regarded her with a look, but his attention mostly stayed on the hooded girl.

"Meredy," he addressed, "there you are. I was looking all over for you."

"What is it, Shirou?" the now named Meredy asked, taking her hood off and revealing her full head of bright pink hair.

"We don't have a lot of time to linger," Shirou said. "We should start to head back home."

It seemed like they knew each other, Lucy thought, perhaps they were mages in the same guild. The girl was young, but she heard stories of people like Mirajane Strauss making S-Rank at an age younger than her own!

Or he was the girl's bodyguard, which also made sense. She wouldn't mind having him as a bodyguard...

Meredy nodded.

Shirou turned to her and bowed his head slightly. "Thank you for watching her, miss."

"Oh it's no problem," she said back. "My name is Lucy, by the way."

He smiled at her.

"Shirou."

Lucy smiled politely as the two individuals with brightly colored hair walked away.

What strange people.

* * *

"I can buy you a Natsu action figure if you want."

Meredy looked away. "I do not like the Salamander or anyone from that infernal guild."

"Then why did you ditch me to see him?" Shirou, **Avenger** , chuckled as Meredy stopped walking and glared at him with a fury befitting of his master. "Ah, that glare makes me die a little inside, Meredy."

She looked him straight in the eyes and met his gaze for well over half a minute before looking away.

"I wanted to see someone else with pink hair," she muttered quietly.

Avenger nodded. Pink hair wasn't exactly common in Fiore, or really anywhere. Anyone with pink hair had quite the chance of being related in some way. He couldn't blame Meredy for trying to find someone she was related to.

Even though he knew exactly what happened to her parents...

Not that she would, or should, ever find out if his master had anything to say about it. He was nothing but a lowly servant, his master's will was his command. If she desired it, then he would never tell Meredy that her family was wiped out and her father's blood was used to summon him. Or that the one who saved her from her burning village was the one who gave the order to set fire to it in the first place.

The girl was way too cute to ruin.

"I cannot blame you, I would love to see Titania's red hair myself," he admitted. "Maybe she could help me with my graying issue."

Meredy glanced at his hair. "I doubt even the king's barber could help you."

"Your words sting, my little pseudo-master."

Suddenly, Avenger lurched over. He gritted his teeth and started to breath heavily as sweat started to form at an alarming rate. Before Meredy could even address it properly, however, it went away and he was fine.

"You've been away from her for that long?" she questioned as they continued walking.

"The time I can spend away from her is getting shorter and shorter the more days go by. It's only been a week and a half and I'm already dying without her touch."

"You could have mentioned that," she said, "you did not have to indulge me in sightseeing if your health is deteriorating at such a rate."

The servant laughed a little. "I can last a few more days at my current level, I'm not that weak. Besides," he gave her a genuine smile, "how can I say no to you and live with myself?"

Meredy looked away and refused to meet his gaze yet again.

"The Salamader I saw was fake," she said as they approached the outskirts of town.

"I could sense his magic," Avenger said with a nod.

"He uses Charm Magic, I believe that he is Bora the Prominence, a known slave trader."

"There were a lot of people trying to see him. That Lucy girl seemed pretty into him and she had the most impressive magical capacity there." Avenger's hands started to curl. "That isn't a good sign."

"We are suppose to be back by tonight," Meredy noted. "If we are late we will no doubt anger her, but do you want to leave all those people behind?"

Avenger laughed heartily. "You're making it my decision, smart! If we go back it'll be my punishment to take now. That's pretty manipulative, Meredy, are you taking my big brother complex and using it against me?"

"Yes."

"My master really is rubbing off on you!"

* * *

The boat itself was way too nice to be a slavers boat. Which was precisely the reason it managed to make it all the way to Hargeon. It looked like a party boat by it's flashing lights and multiple young attendants.

And while the inside was decorated to suit a cruise ship, it was hardly a boat of any good intent.

"Hello there," **Bora** **The Prominence** said with a charming smile to a girl in her early twenties.

"Hi there Natsu," the girl replied shyly. "Thank you for inviting me onto your boat."

"No problem! The honor is all mine for blessing me with your beauty."

"Though," the girl looked thoughtful, "why does a fire mage own a boat?"

Bora stared at her for a few seconds, before sighing.

"Sleep," he ordered, casting his magic over her. The girl swayed for a moment before collapsing onto the floor with a loud thud.

He gave her a distasteful look. It was actually quite shameful that she was the smartest one out of the entire bunch he had tricked. All of them were so shallow and wasteful, they didn't realize how good they had it. They were frankly all a bunch of waste of space.

If anything, he took them away from the shallow and boring life that they will soon grow tired of. While yes, they were still young, Bora knew that sooner or later they would all grow to live the exact same lives.

It was where the facade of Natsu the Salamander really worked out. Only the stupid girls who thought their bodies where they're greatest asset came to him, and they tried attacking with their greatest weapon in some vain attempt for fame.

Just fame. A lot of these girls were rich to begin with. They allowed themselves to be spoiled and coddled their entire life and then come to him with a fancy dress and a smile plastered with expensive makeup expecting him to sweep them off their feet and into some sort of fantasy life that they read in magazines or watch in movies.

Superficial. They were all so very superficial.

"Hello?" a female voice not unlike the others asked. Bora sighed but put on a charming smile.

"Please come in."

She was beautiful, better looking than a lot but nowhere near the best. She had a rather expensive red dress, of course, heels that looked uncomfortable, of course, and an expensive key ring that signified her as a mage that had no physical ability... of course.

She was nothing more than the same old rich girl running from home. She wouldn't be the first to come to him and without a doubt wouldn't be the last. She actually seemed a bit more dedicated to the mage arts than others, if the quality of her Celestial Keys were to be believed.

"What is your name, sweet..." he trailed off, letting his Charm Magic permeate in the air.

"Lucy," she answered breathlessly.

"Well Lucy," he gestured to the chair next to him, "do you want to sit down?"

She nodded slowly, but started to frantically shake her head.

"Wait! Never mind!" She pointed an accusatory finger at him. "You're using Charm Magic, aren't you!?"

"Yes I am," Bora answered tiredly, not even attempting to fight yet.

"That's illegal! I can't let that happen." Lucy reached for her key ring and pulled out a key, but before she could do anything he fired a fireball at her, making her frantically dodge and lose her keys.

"You're kidding me," Bora said blandly as he stared at the startled girl. "Did you really walk into a fight with a dress and heels?"

Lucy was shellshocked.

"Just go to sleep." Lucy's eyes started to weaken as she lolled her head back and entered a blissful sleep.

Bora stared at the keys and shook his head.

"I need a drink."

"Does it help?" a voice asked from behind him.

Bora whipped around.

Behind him was a young pink haired girl wearing a cloak. She stared at him without a single hint of emotion, her bright green eyes eerily staring straight at him. '

He would have remembered capturing her, so how did she get on the boat?

"What are you doing here?" Bora asked. "This isn't the best place to be wandering around in."

"Does it help you?" she asked again.

He stared, confused. "What do you mean? Did you not hear me when I said that—"

"Drinking," she cut him off. "You said you needed a drink, does it make you feel better consuming something that only tricks your mind and obscures the senses from you? How does it feel knowing that the only solace you can find is at a bottom of a glass bottle and said solace is forgetting time. How low does one have to go in order to enjoy forgetting things?"

Bora stared.

"...what?"

"I am trying to understand the mindset of alcohol drinking people in order to understand why it is still so relevant in society.'

The slaver took a deep breath and tried to compose himself. "Look kid," he started slowly, "I'm not sure how you got here, but this is not a place for children, alright?"

"Why?" she asked, still as mechanical as before. "Is it because of all the dead bodies?"

Bora opened his mouth, but was stabbed through the chest by a white blade before a single word could come out. His eyes widened slightly as he fell forward onto the ground of his boat.

"He never answered my question," Meredy said blandly.

"Don't take advice from scum like him," Shirou replied as he lifted Lucy and walked her over to a couch. "The amount of captured girls I saw in the hull was... he deserves a fate worse than death."

"And yet death is the ultimate punishment, is it not?"

Shirou shook his head. "If we didn't stop him those poor girls would have suffered a fate much worse than death."

"Did you evacuate them?"

"Yes and no. I killed all the guards on the boat and led them to the life rafts, but from what I saw most of them don't know how to operate them."

"They're boats," she said blandly.

"You would think that literally a goat would know how to use a paddle, but I've been enlightened."

* * *

When he finally arrived, she didn't even address him. She continued to lounge on a couch facing the fireplace with a scroll in hand, most likely studying a Lost Magic of some kind.

"Master," he said as he bowed.

Ultear read for a few more moments before looking up at him.

"You're late."

"Yes I am."

 **Avenger** stayed bowing as Ultear scrutinized his every feature with her calculating gaze.

"Is there a reason why?" she asked levelly, sounding perfectly diplomatic.

But he knew... and the thought made him want to shudder.

It wasn't that Ultear was a bad master, she was just not the best person. She was kinda like Rin actually. They both terrified him and entranced him at the same time, something that he wish he could understand for his own health.

Like Rin, Ultear had a... rough exterior, to say the least. It wasn't that looks were the issue, obviously, it was just the icy exterior befitting of a tundra.

"Bora the Prominence tried to abduct half the women of Hargeon. I could not possibly walk away from so many people desiring help," he answered honestly. There was no reason in lying to her, she would ask Meredy the next time they saw each other anyways.

Ultear looked at him with something akin to disappointment. She hated the fact that he just couldn't resist helping literally anyone and everyone who happened to get their sob story across. She had tried many times to try and stop him, but nothing less than a command seal could prevent it and she knew it.

However, she was still the master, and if the situation really required it he would listen to her.

"That was not apart of the mission route. Hargeon was a detour," she stated, not even needing to ask.

"It was, Master."

She stared, silently demanding an answer.

"...Meredy heard of the Salamander's hair and wanted to see it for herself."

Ultear let out a breath and stared into the fireplace. Shirou stood up and sat down next to her, taking labored breaths as he did.

"Master," he started, noticeably struggling, "I... my reserves are getting dangerously low."

Ultear's hum was the only acknowledgment he received.

"Master," he pleaded.

"My orders were to return immediately, were they not?" She looked at him blankly, not showing a single hint of emotion on her beautiful face.

Shirou wanted to sigh, he knew this game all to well. Hell hath no fury a women scorned, and Ultear was steps above women in just about everything, including, and especially, fury.

"They were."

She gave him a sweet smile that held more malice the damn Holy Grail.

"If stopping some simple minded wenches from being enslaved means more to you than your master's orders, than I expect you to deal with the issue completely before coming back to me."

"We did, master. Bora and his entire crew fell to my blades. All that was left living was a boat filled with those..." he sighed, "simple minded wenches."

"Very well then." She placed a hand on his pale cheek and rested it there.

Shirou let out a breath as her magic surged through her hand and into him.

"I do not like when you disobey me, servant," she said, staring deep into his eyes.

"I'm sorry master, but it is in my nature."

She withdrew her hand, and Shirou winced at the lost of precious Od.

"Remember who needs who, servant," she said coldly.

"Of course, dearest master."

"Then if you understand," she stared into the fire once more, "I have a task for you."

* * *

It started when she saw a flying cat. It was without a doubt a cat with wings, even from the forest outside of Hargeon she could spot the little beast easily. She could probably spot the little winged creature from a mile away if she really tried.

Well, probably not, now that she thought about it. There was a reason she was chosen as the Saber class rather than Archer. If she used reinforcement on her eyes, maybe, then she could see that far. But the only person she knew with skills in the art that well was...

...was a man in a different world.

 **Arturia** **Pendragon** tightened her jaw at the thought of him.

The cat lowered itself back into the city, and most likely back to it's partner. Arturia shook her head and wiped the thoughts of ghosts out of her mind.

She had a mission. She was a mage of Fairy Tail now, she couldn't get distracted.

Stop the slavers taking people from Vale. It was a direct job from the Magic Council itself. A group of unknown slavers were apparently using the facade of famous mages to attract younger females to port cities, where many of them would disappear afterwards.

If her hunch was correct, Hargeon would be the next city targeted.

Those slavers were going to regret ever considering kidnapping innocent people. For she would never fail a mission and ruin Fairy Tail's honor.

Stopping the slavers wasn't her only task, however. Her constant secondary objective was to always prevent Natsu from destroying things. No matter how many times she punished him he still kept burning things down like he was the Fuyuki Fire.

So now to find that cat...

* * *

"Oh my..." Happy collapsed onto the deck of the ship. Carrying both Natsu and Arturia was too much for the cat; his wings felt like they were on fire. "How are you so heavy, Arturia?"

"I may eat more than the average female, but warriors must always eat a lot," she said as dignified as possible, though the subtle twitch to her brow meant she did take offence to it.

Natsu sniffed the air. "I don't like the smell of this place. I smell... blood."

Arturia drew her famous sword, Excalibur.

"Then let's stop this."

She ran towards the cabin of the ship and charged straight threw the wall.

"Stop you cretins! For I shall stop your—" she froze.

They were all dead. Not all the slaves, for only a few were in the cabin at first glance, but all of the men in the cabin were long gone from the land of the living.

Arturia took a breath and noted the smell... the bodies were still fresh and crudely thrown into a pile in the corner of the room.

"What?" Natsu breathed out, unable to comprehend the multiple bodies in front of him. "They're... dead?"

"Natsu," Happy whispered, hiding behind Natsu's shoulder absolutely terrified, "that girl is the one who fed us earlier."

"Luigi!" he yelled as he ran towards the well dressed blonde girl. "Arturia she's alive!"

The knight walked over to a well dressed man with a stab wound through the chest. "Bora the Prominence. It was him after all." She walked over to Natsu, who was holding the unconscious girl, and picked up a rack of keys near her. "This must belong to this Luigi girl, she must have fought them."

"She couldn't of killed them, she's nice!" Natsu argued.

"She's not dressed like a killer," she agreed. "But she does have Celestial Keys, which means she might have a spirit that caused all of this."

"I don't think she did."

Arturia stared at the girl. "I don't think so either," she said after a while, "and we can't just leave here here. Natsu, prepare a life boat with her on it while I find the rest of the captured girls."

She just prayed they were alive.

"Whoever did this," Natsu muttered quietly. "They were criminals, I know, but they didn't deserve to die."

"Whoever killed these men will face justice," Arturia promised. "I will make sure of it."

* * *

 **Authors note: Here is a little premise on some of the background to the characters. Shirou is dressed after his appearance in the (spin off?) story of fate/kaleid. I have no clue what the story is about, but what he looks like does match my own image of Archer during his earlier days as a counter guardian. Saber is based off F/GO with the cape and crown.**

 **As for Shirou using Rule Breaker, it's not that simple. There's a reason he can't that will be brought up later in the story.**


	3. Chapter 3

What woke **Lucy** up was the sound of vomiting. It was sounded so violent - so painful - that it tore her from her happy dreams of being a badass mage and back into reality.

She moaned slightly as she sat up, quietly looking around the carriage she was in. To her right was a man hunched over the window, clearly releasing his lunch into the wild. There was an animal on his shoulder rubbing his back... it kinda looked like a cat.

"You're awake," a voice said from her side, making her jump and scream.

The guy throwing up jolted at her voice, slamming his head into the ceiling and collapsing onto the ground. The cat somehow screamed as well as it was crushed by it's friend.

Lucy looked towards the speaker and gasped.

"You're... you're..." her voice left her and her breaths became heavy.

Arturia Pendragon Dreyar looked at her curiously.

"I am what?" she asked.

"You're part of Fairy Tail!" Lucy exclaimed. "Oh my gosh you're Arturia Dreyar! I'm I'm I'm!" Lucy was shaking with excitement. "I'm like your biggest fan ever! Of all time! Ever!"

Arturia looked taken aback. "Oh... I... I thank you for supporting me Miss..."

"Lucy! Lucy is my name and I'm a mage! A good one! A great one actually!"

Arturia's eyes sharpened. "A great mage, huh? Then tell me, are you a good enough mage to slay Bora the Prominence and his crew of slavers?"

"Wha?" Her surprise was enough to deter Arturia from any thought that Lucy could be the culprit.

"I see," Arturia nodded, "a good mage perhaps. You see, Lucy, we found you on Bora the Prominence's ship."

"That liar!" Lucy snarled. "He pretended to by Natsu the Salamander and was leading girls onto his ship! I knew something fishy was going on and had to check it out. He got me by surprise though."

"Fish?" she heard a small voice mutter from underneath the man.

"The Salamander," Arturia muttered, glancing at the downed form and shaking her head, "no wonder Natsu was there. Anyways, Bora has been dealt with and his captives freed. You're here because you were the only one... available. So thank you for your honesty, Lucy," the knight bowed her head, "it will help us greatly."

Lucy blushed and stuttered a 'you're welcome'.

"Natsu!" Arturia yelled at her comparative, "have some manners and introduce yourself!"

The man straightened as much as he could, but still looked horribly sick. "My name is... Natsu..." He collapsed to the ground as he finished, his head bobbing back and forth.

"Is that the actual salamander?" Lucy asked in shock.

"It is," Arturia said as she shook her head. "Please forgive his rudeness, he suffers from a rather horrible case of motion sickness."

"No no that's perfectly fine!" Lucy replied, a tad breathless of being in their presence. "Perfectly fine!"

Arturia nodded. "Good, now Lucy, we have some more questions to ask, but they can wait until we make it to the guild."

"The guild?" Lucy's eyes widened. "Are we going to _the_ Fairy Tail?"

"We are," Arturia confirmed. "There is only one guild hall, after all."

Lucy smiled ecstatically. This was her chance, it must be. Her luck must have finally reached it's all time high.

How was it that she just woke up and was being taken to Fairy Tail by one of it's most famous mages? By the daughter of the master no less! Even the Salamander was next to her!

Though, the vomiting really put her off.

* * *

 **Arturia** liked something about Lucy, but she couldn't quite pinpoint what. There was definitely something that made the King want to take the young mage in. Perhaps it was the pureness, the innocence that Lucy had was admirable.

Whatever it was, it left a good impression. Lucy seemed interested in joining the guild, and Arturia wasn't going too stop her.

In fact, Arturia would welcome Lucy with welcoming arms.

"You would?" Lucy whispered, unable to hold her shock. Tears pooled in her eyes. "You really would?"

Arturia nodded and gave a charming smile. "You would be a great fit for Fairy Tail."

"Thank you thank you thank you!"

* * *

When **Lucy** first walked into Fairy Tail, she didn't expect to see at least three bar fights in the first three seconds. It was rather... unsophisticated, if she had to chose a word for it. The laughing resonating from just about everywhere gave it a certain charm that she never imagined existed. Even the old man throwing a bunch of burning papers seemed to fit in just fine.

It was... nice.

Right behind her Arturia walked in, and the entire atmosphere she just saw vanished.

"Hey!" Arturia yelled, making everyone stand up straight and salute her. "Have some manners and welcome Lucy to our guild!"

"Hello Lucy!" the entire guild echoed.

"Well well," the small old man started as he approached, "it seems Arturia has a guest! Hello to you, Lucy! I like what I see." He giggled lecherously as he very blatantly eyed her figure.

"Master," Arturia began, her tone so dangerous the old man stiffened like a board, "are those important documents you're burning?"

"W-what important documents?" he asked.

Her eyes narrowed, making him flinch. "The documents Natsu is currently eating," she clarified, crossing her arms and flexing her fingers. They all looked and noticed Natsu eating the burning pile with a blissful look on his face.

"Master?" Lucy whispered, eyeing the man.

"Now look, dearest daughter," the master, whose name was Makarov is Lucy recalled, pleaded. "I need to... induct the newest member! Luigi, right?"

"Lucy," she corrected.

"Yeah, that!"

"Mirajane can do that -"

"But I'm still the master!" he cut off as he grabbed Lucy by the wrist and dashed away.

Arturia watched their retreating forms with a stern expression, before smiling slightly at her father's antics.

Fairy Tail never ceased to be lively no matter what happened. Even after all the years she spent in the guild the camaraderie and sense of family never ceased to impress her. The lack of IQ, however, was not always as impressive...

"Arturia, over here!" a young voice called, drawing the king from her thoughts. Arturia saw Romeo, the young son of a veteran member, run over to her frantically. "Arturia," he cried, "dad hasn't come back from his mission!"

Macao was better than that, Arturia thought.

"Give me details, little one," she said calmly. Romeo was eased by her seriousness, and nodded vigorously.

"Dad went on a job to Hakobe to deal with the vulcan problem they have!"

"Macao never takes those kind of jobs," she noted. "He isn't suited for them."

"I... I kinda asked him to because these kids star -"

"Quiet," she ordered, making him stop. "You're father knows what he is capable of. He is a veteran mage that should not need saving."

"But what if he doe -"

"Stop," she ordered again. "I will rescue your father, only so I can reprimand him on his poor judgement."

"Thank you! Please punish him as much as you want as long as you save him!"

"Hey," Natsu called as he walked over, "I heard what you said, and I want to help too!"

Arturia nodded. She knew Natsu had an assortment of emotions when it came to parents - fathers in particular. He would go to Mount Hakobe anyways, without her or not.

* * *

"I-I'm still not sure why I'm tagging along," Lucy admitted as they ascended the mountain.

"You are new," Arturia explained simply.

"New," Lucy muttered, not understanding.

"I wish to test you, and if you fail I will make my father exile you from the guild."

"What!?" she cried in shock, staring at Arturia like she was the Caster Bluebeard. "What kind of test is it? Like a combat test or a written test or..." she trailed off, muttering a thousand different types of tests that Arturia didn't bother listening to.

"Don't worry Luigi, if you're meant to be in Fairy Tail you'll pass!" Natsu reassured.

Like that was reassuring, Lucy thought, now she could prove that she wasn't meant for Fairy Tail and get kicked out.

"Do not falter," Arturia told her, "we understand that you have never been in a guild before, so we will assisting you if it goes wrong. If these beasts did take down Macao, then we would never throw a beginner towards them alone. You are safe with us, you have my word."

Lucy blushed.

"Isn't that what we're doing though?" Natsu asked Arturia. "I though we were just going to stand around while she fights and jump in if she's about to get rocked."

"We are. I said that."

Arturia really had a way with words then, Lucy decided, because between her and Natsu - Natsu made her want to scream and Arturia didn't. Arturia Dreyar was actually just like her Socerer's Magazine profile said: efficient, regal and awe-inspiring.

Which was all Lucy had to be in order to stay in Fairy Tail.

* * *

It bothered him how similar his current job was to his former occupation - a counter guardian. Instead of being randomly deployed to a battle with orders to kill everything the target was a lot more deliberate. He couldn't even use a twisted viewpoint and say he was being heroic, this was nothing but a hitman's job.

But his master was his master. **Avenger** would serve, the command seals on his master's arm beckoned for obedience. As an archer, perhaps he could've had enough independent action to disobey her, but as an avenger his duty was different.

He was suppose to avenge. Exactly what Ultear Milkovich needed avenging was unknown to him - his dreams of her past was just as cryptic as her own dreams of him. Avenger knew of her upbringing in Grimoire Heart, how she learned ancient magic with incredible drive. He knew of the darkness that she loved living in, the evil deeds and thoughts that she constantly had. But he also knew of the good she had deep down inside and refused to give up.

Ultear Milkovich needed more than just an Avenger, she needed a saver... she needed a hero.

He could be that hero. He could be a hero. If he could save Ultear then maybe...

Shaking his head, he threw his inner monologue away with a deep breath. Now was not the time for pondering, it was time for work.

The first eerie indication that he was close was all the trees around him were dead. A complete radius around the target was devoid of any animals with only the dead husks of plants visible.

Mission objectives were simple. Get the artifact, eliminate anyone who dare resists.

"Halt!" Avenger raised a brow at the man who ran out of the guild. Did people even say 'halt' anymore? "Who are you and what is your business here?" the man continued, "are you from the Magic Council?"

"No," he answered, "well maybe. A member of the council sent me here, so technically yes."

Avenger knew there was no point in lying, they were all going to die anyways. He knew how the entire interaction would go - it always went the same way.

"So a dog from the council has arrived," another man said menacingly as he exited the guild. He looked like more than regular talentless fodder that all common dark guilds had. This man looked important. Tall, lack of clothes, silver hair. Avenger knew who it was.

"Erigor? Am I right?"

Erigor laughed. "Yes dog, I am Erigor."

"My master wants your flute," Avenger said. "Also, she wants Eisenwald destroyed. I'm sorry, but I must follow her orders."

"The flute is already gone, dog," Erigor snarled, "and a slave like you will never destroy Eisenwald."

"No flute?" Avenger muttered to himself. "Ah well, at least I can accomplish half of my task."

He raised his hand towards the dark guild.


	4. Chapter 4

**Avenger** didn't practice arrogance. He was a man with nothing to brag about - he gave up pride years ago. Against an entire dark guild, even one as unimpressive as Eisenwald was, Avenger knew to never overestimate or underestimate.

Ultear barely filled a fourth of his reserves, and Erigor proved more difficult to down that Avenger wanted. Eisenwald's Ace fought hard, but in the end there was little he could do against the onslaught of steel. Erigor fought until he couldn't fight no more, something Avenger respected, but respect did little to persuade Avenger from sparing his life.

The guild master was a no show. It seems like Erigor was holding down the fort while whoever managed Eisenwald was gone. It meant one less powerful mage to fight, but it also meant one of his problems couldn't be solved.

The flute.

Avenger fell to his knees, the ruined building that was once Eisenwald behind him. His Prana was too low... low enough that traveling to Grimoire Heart seemed impossible.

He could do it though. He would always find a way back to his master.

But when he found Ultear with no flute to give her? She would laugh in his face if he even asked for any mana and throw him out the nearest window. Returning to Ultear wasn't an option without Lullaby in his possession.

And that was the crux of the issue. Lullaby, a magical flute that Ultear so badly wanted to study. There wasn't any survivors left, which meant nobody could give him information, and whatever papers he scavenged from the ruined guild hall were useless.

 _"Stuck in a rut, are you?"_ a completely unreadable voice rang around him. Avenger instinctive looked around only to find nothing, before his memories started to recall the distinguished tone.

"Ankhseram," he said out loud.

 _"It appears you're a little lost, servant. Perhaps slaughtering all those useless mages wasn't a good idea?"_

"What do you want?" he asked, any pleasantry lost.

 _"I would watch you're tone,"_ the voice advised, _"I'm sure you did your research on me. You should know I have cursed and destroyed many people for troubling me. But, lucky for you, I seem to have a bias towards a certain Avenger..."_

"Because I'm you're entertainment."

 _"Yes you are! And fine entertainment at that! Don't be angry, Shirou, this is how gods operate. They create the rules of the game, set the pieces and then watch to see how it goes. We're not suppose to interfere, but every god has a player they like the most, and everybody wants to see their favorite player do good... all powerful or not."_

And according to Ankhseram, he was the god's favorite piece. "Which makes me wonder why you're speaking to me," Avenger pondered, "perhaps you want to assist your favorite 'player' a little?" he spat the word like it was poison. He already had to be a piece in a twisted game with the Holy Grail, and now this?

Avenger gasped as the purest energy he ever felt rushed inside of him from all sides. It made him fall to all fours and take heave breaths as his body was energized to levels he hadn't felt in weeks.

 _"I can't completely refill your reserves without your master feeling it. You should be thankful for that, by the way, because I just avoided some unnecessary drama for you."_

"Thanks," Avenger replied grudgingly.

 _"Now, I shouldn't do this, but as I said I'm a little biased. Lullaby, which in a way is my grandchild since I basically made Zeref, is in possession of that petty guild's third in command. He is a shadow user by the name of Kageyama, he looks rather unremarkable, with only his black ponytail and love for high collars being his only distinguishable features."_

"Do you know where he is?"

 _"Of course, but I'm not telling you."_

Avenger sighed.

 _"Don't fret, the gift basket I'm giving you is not empty yet. Even though I care little for the rules we gods try to follow, I am not going to explicitly tell you where. I am already hated by a lot of celestial beings for how generous I already am to you, but their ire means little to my entertainment. Kageyame is a not only a smart man, but a smart criminal. When word that Eisenwald has been eradicated comes to him he'll immediately know it's because of the flute. He will go on the run and be difficult to track down alone, near impossible."_

"But I have to. If I can't do it alone, then who can help me?"

 _"I'll give you a hint. There is a man who is so well informed that people flock from all over the world to ask for information. He resides in Fiore, not too far from the area you tend to operate in."_

"Who?"

 _"That would make it too easy, wouldn't it? The only hint I'll tell you is that he makes one hell of a cocktail and one hell of a cheesecake."_

And with that, the presence of Ankhseram vanished.

* * *

"Their moves are changing," Makarov informed her quietly over his third mug of ale, "we'll be forced into action sooner or later."

 **Arturia** pursed her lips as she contemplated the eventual battle ahead. "Troubling," she agreed, "but I do think we have the potential to take down our foes, as long as it can be harnessed properly."

"Of course we can!" the master exclaimed with confidence, something all of Fairy Tail seemed to have in spades, "that does not mean it will be simple."

"Obviously."

It truly was troubling that Fairy Tail was a target for people with vicious intent. It angered Arturia - nobody in the guild was capable of making enemies, everyone was so pure in Fairy Tail. Fairy Tail never intentionally stepped on any toes, but that seemed to be the issue.

Jealousy. Fairy Tail didn't have to lower its standards to be successful, and that angered other guilds. Magnolia's guild was simply too impressive and too famous to not draw attention - Arturia only wished it wasn't of the negative kind.

Makarov wanted to speak more, but one of the guild members, Jet, bolted into the guild hall frantically and drew their attention.

"She's here!" he yelled, making Arturia raise a brow and Makarov chuckle quietly, "Erza's back!"

The rest of the guild, on cue, started to quickly clean up their act before the titan could arrive. Everything would boil back down into a drunken brawl within ten minutes, but Arturia was glad to have at least a little bit of peace in the rampant guild and was going to appreciate it.

"Well I was suppose to set out for the usual meeting yesterday," Makarov informed her as he downed his cup and stretched his arms out, "I'm sure everyone will be in check with both you and Erza here, so I'll leave the keys to you."

"You might find yourself locked out if you show up as drunk as you leave."

The master giggled and stumbled away, absolutely intoxicated.

Sound left the guild as the batwing doors were thrown open and Erza Scarlet, S-Ranked mage, walked in. Tall and confident, she stood, just like Arturia herself. The king liked what she saw, it reminded her of herself in so many ways - it was like Erza had dragons blood in her as well.

"Arturia," Erza greeted as she made a beeline towards her favorite guildmate, "what an honor to see you again, it's been a while since we last saw each other."

"It has, my decade quest took longer than expected, more than a few months like I expected."

"Well it's such an amazing feat that you finished it so quickly... you are truly a -" Erza saw the look in Arturia's eyes and realized that the king wasn't in the mood for her excessive praise. "Anyways, I have a favor I need to ask of you."

"And what is that?"

"During my travels back, I heard some disturbing news at a bar..."

* * *

It was both kinda easy and kinda difficult for **Avenger** to find exactly what he was looking for. He wasn't exactly in the loop with the underworld, despite his master being part of one of the most fearsome dark guilds in the world. He was just another wandering two bit mage in the eyes of everyone else, much like his old world, which made it hard to find someone willing to talk to him.

But the tip the dark deity Anksheram gave him pulled through. Sure, nobody was willing to tell him where the most informed man in Earthland was, but nobody could keep their pie hole shut about the best cheesecake in Earthland, which led him to a moderate sized town in the middle off who-knows-where Fiore.

The call to fame for the entire town was a world famous bar with, according to them, the best tasting desserts in the world.

It was worth a shot.

"Black tea, please," he asked the bartender, receiving a curious look as he did.

"Strange thing to ask for in a bar," the bartender noted. He looked like a middle aged dark skinned man with glasses, but his hair was white and he had a decent sized scar on the side of his head. "I would have to go in the back to make some. You don't want a cocktail instead?"

"I'm not really into alcohol. Do you make good cocktails?"

The man looked at him with a smirk. "The best."

"And your cheesecake?"

A snort. "The best."

"Perhaps you can help me in other manners..."

The man smiled dryly, getting the subtle hint. "Of course... that's why you're here. My name is Drebin," he said. By his words, it seemed like he was bothered by the request, but there wasn't anything on his face but a pleasant expression so disarming it unnerved the servant.

"Avenger."

"What a peculiar name."

"My master doesn't want me called anything else." Avenger didn't give him anything more, and Drebin knew better than to pry deeper.

"Now then, Avenger, why are you in my bar?" Drebin's voice toned down as he leaned over the bar.

"I'm looking for Lullaby."

To Avenger's surprise Drebin only chuckled.

"Did you have something to do with Eisenwald's brutal demise?" At his nod Drebin had a small grin. "Uncultured, that bunch. I am a man that doesn't make enemies, but those fools always annoyed me. I heard Erigor was in pieces, is that right?"

"He was craftier than I thought," Avenger admitted. "I had to use some more... volatile methods."

"Well Avenger, you just made a friend out of me for taking that rat out, but that's a double edged sword."

"I like swords."

Another chuckle. "Good... that's good. I'll tell you what kind of sword I am, for you're own good. On one edge I'll tell you just about anything you ask about, for a price, of course - and I'll always hook up good friends of mine. The other edge is that I know you now, and if someone asks me who this Avenger that took down Eisenwald is, who am I to say no to the paycheck?"

So staying off the grid wasn't possible anymore. He knew the day would come that he would no longer be unknown to anyone, but the anonymity was so useful in so many ways. Being a dark mage was a one way road filled with annoying guards, annoying mages and annoying people.

An order was an order, however, and he wasn't going to let his master down.

"And if a real close friend of yours doesn't like me?" Avenger asked.

"What goes on between you and anyone else isn't my problem. I like to keep my relationships more personal than most people, customer satisfaction is my number one priority."

"What if your customer turns out to be a extremely wanted dark mage?"

Drebin's smirk was too sly. "Who am I to turn down a friend in need?

"Excuse me," a customer, some red haired girl, called from two seats down, "may I have some cheesecake?"

"Of course, dearest," Drebin said, as he walked away he glanced at Avenger, "and I'll bring you a little something as well."

Avenger knew better to trust a guy like Drebin, but everything he said seemed sincere enough. If one of the most well informed men on the planet was that easy to get information from, then Avenger would be an even bigger fool than he already was to say no. He didn't know how easy it was for Drebin to make friends, but becoming one of them could possibly be a godsend, which, with his experience with the gods, was most likely not a blessing.

Drebin came back, served the girl, and returned to Avenger, handing him a sheet of paper.

"Usually you have to pay for my help in cash or favors - I don't take checks - but since we're new friends I'll do you a favor. Here's the schedule Kageyama of Eisenwald is on right now, give or take a day or two."

Avenger was engrossed by it. "Through Oshibana station and to... the guild master meeting?"

"Eisenwald is still alive," the bartender said, "and they still have Lullaby. To me, that's still a problem. You owe me for that info, and taking a thorn like Eisenwald out permanently is in the right direction to repaying that debt. Especially with the plan they have now."

The redhead a few stools down got up and walked away, Avenger didn't pay her much mind as he read Drebin's info.

"That paper stays with me, so read up," Drebin said.

* * *

"If Lullaby you heard off is what you assume it is, then that is an issue we cannot ignore... Eisenwald needs to be taken care of. Take Natsu, Gray and the new girl with you. Together you shouldn't face much trouble from the remainder of Eisenwald," **Arturia** told Erza, who nodded.

"Of course."

"Also Erza, did you catch the name of the man asking for the information?"

Erza nodded. "I believe he wanted to be called Avenger," she said. Arturia felt her blood chill as she heard the title.

There was no way... no way at all. Avenger was a class, but that didn't mean anything in a new world. There was no way her past had followed her unless someone else had wished from the Grail, which was impossible since she destroyed it. She wasn't even suppose to get a wish either, but a mysterious celestial decided to humor her.

Her past couldn't haunt her anymore.

* * *

He cursed Anksheram. He truly hoped the deity... god... bastard - whatever - was reading his thoughts. The servant of vengeance had nothing good to say or think to the sick bastard that wanted to play games with him. Who wanted to play games with innocent lives.

Curse the devil that was Anksheram and curse his master's delusions. Ultear Milkovich wasn't wicked to the core; the link the two shared show him enough to know that Ultear had good somewhere inside her.

Why then? Why must his master be so cruel?

Orders had changed. The Grimoire Heart airship was closer to Fiore then he expected, which meant he had time to inform his master of the Kageyama's horrid plan. Except instead of agreeing with him on stopping the Eisenwald mage, Ultear found the entire thing entertaining, and the possible outcome quite amusing.

 **Avenger** \- Shirou - was a servant, he lived to serve. The command seals on his master's arm and the lack of Independent Action his class had made Ultear's every desire so hard to resist. If he was summoned as any other class he would have Independent Action of at least B, which would let him resist some commands, but as an Avenger he had to shoulder the hatred Ultear Milkovich had and try to ease it.

His orders was to locate and shadow Kageyama. Then, if the dark mage met resistance he couldn't handle, assist him.

It was appalling. She wanted him to assist the scum that was Eisenwald. He tried to plea with her, but there wasn't anything to convince Ultear otherwise.

The deaths of the most prominent light guild masters would be a tragedy among tragedies. Righteous leaders who protected the innocent - gone at the tune of a shitty flute.

Avenger couldn't let it happen. Shirou Emiya was a complete failure at being a hero, but that didn't mean he would stop trying. No matter how difficult it was, Avenger would prove himself worthy of the King of Knights no matter what.

And to think Avenger likened his master to Rin... what a fool he was. Rin was indeed a sadistic, mean, spiteful maniac of beauty... but she never considered terrorism (well, fatal terrorism) as a mean to an end. Sure, there were a lot of fire bombs in the offices of men who spited the Tohsaka, and bombs of more than just fire in Luvia's quarters, but Rin didn't kill the innocent.

Ultear didn't care whose blood was shed as long as she got her vengeance - against who Avenger still didn't know yet.

With his Archer tendencies still intact, Avenger eyed Oshibana Station from a rooftop across town, his reinforced eyes allowing him to easily read the signs out front. All around the station confused people were gathered - the employees of the station were frantically trying to calm the crowd. Avenger knew better... he noticed a group of soldiers enter earlier, and none of them had returned.

Kageyama wasn't alone. Eisenwald had more life than Avenger expected.

A magical car skidded to a stop by the station, nearly running over people in the crowd. Avenger watched as a group of mages got out and stormed towards the employee. On the arm of one of them, a pink haired mage, was an insignia Avenger could only dream about.

Fairy Tail... _her_ guild.

Avenger took a bated breath - why did they, of all guilds, have to come?

The red haired leader, who reminded him of Saber due to her knightly looks, had absolutely zero patience as she headbutted enough employees that her group were allowed inside. Hopefully they knew of the dark guild that waited within, or else there would be a nasty surprise for them.

He hopped from roof to roof towards the station and entered the station from an open panel on windowed roof. Quietly falling onto the scaffolding above, Avenger surveyed the amount of enemies.

He considered twenty of them enemies... but his master considered only four of them enemies.

...the four Avenger wanted to help the most he was suppose to delay.

Avenger couldn't avoid confrontation with Fairy Tail, it was inevitable due to his master's orders. He could, however, chose when he could strike. He waited and let the two male members of the group split off in pursuit of Kageyama, leaving the redhead and a familiar blonde.

He never forgot faces. Her name was Lucy, the girl from Hargeon that was unconscious on Bora the Prominence's trafficking boat. If she was here it meant the girls made it out alright, which was a relief, but it also dampened his already horrible mood.

She was pure... he didn't want to hurt someone so innocent.

He smiled darkly - then why become a Counter Guardian? This fate wasn't much different from his last one, except this time his way out being a dog for a sociopath instead of being a dog for Alaya, the heartless conscious of those who don't know any better.

Also, he didn't have to kill them - an instant step up from being a Protector of Balance. All he had to do was stall the Fairy Tail mages if Eisenwald couldn't, and while he did that hopefully the other two would end Kageyama's scheme.

The red haired one, projected a sword out of nowhere and met a group of Eisenwald lackeys head on.

How? It was the original piece according to his tracing, and projections didn't create the original, only copies.

No. Not projection - Requip. It was like everyone had their own little Unlimited Blade Works filled with... well from what he knew there could be anything in a pocket dimension. It was more like a Gate of Babylon if anything, if what he heard about people learning Requip only to have walking closet was true.

The knight projec... equipped... well she called forth a few more swords, spears and even an axe before the revelation dawned on the members of Eisenwald.

"She's Titania! She's S rank!"

Titania? What a peculiar name, but better than Avenger, he could admit.

Titania was tearing through the dark mages with ease. All the talk the criminals were spitting five minutes earlier were gone; the sexist remarks definitely didn't hold up when the fighting started.

Using her magic, Titania summoned an incredible looking armor that revealed a lot of her midriff and chest. Honestly, the revealing parts were overshadowed by the four massive metal wings protruding out her back, and the wheel of floating swords rotating behind her. She had twin swords in her hand that were masterfully crafted, but held no special story or ability other than being made for the armor.

She called it the 'Heaven's Wheel Armor'.

Heavenly, he could admit, but incredibly dangerous.

The competition didn't last. Avenger knew he should have assisted the crooks before they were all defeated, but the last thing he wanted to do was give an Eisenwald mage hope. Titania literally flew, not only dual wielding her blades with ruthless precision, but summoning at least thirty blades out of nowhere for crowd control.

It made him excited.

"We made quick work of them," Titania told her companion, grinning triumphantly, "now lets meet up with Natsu and Gray to end Eisenwald once and for all."

Before Lucy could surprise he jumped off the rafters and onto the ground behind them.

"Not yet," Avenger informed them, making them turn around and meeting Titania's dangerous glare with the dull look he had been practicing(he wasn't at the level that the EMIYA Rin summoned was at, but he was slowly getting there). "As much as the thought of Eisenwald being forever gone pleases me, that can't happen just yet."

"Wait!" Titania's eyes narrowed, catching a glimpse of my face from underneath my cloak. "You are the one from the bar! Are you not?"

Staring at her questioningly, beckoning her to continue.

"You are!"

"I... I'm sorry but I don't follow," he said. "If we were at a bar, perhaps I was drunk and don't remember you? Though I don't really have enough free time to get drunk and I doubt I'd forget such a beautiful girl so easily..."

She blushed, at least, but her glare never faltered. "Who are you!" she demanded, pointing a sword at me.

"Just a wandering nobody who likes swords," was the honest response.

"To think you would watch your own guild mates be defeated, such cowardice!"

"Please don't lump me with those scum," he asked with a level tone, her demeanor not changing at all, "nobody hates Eisenwald as much as me... well there might be a few people, but nobodies caused more trouble to Eisenwald than me."

"Then what do you want?" Lucy asked, not recognizing him. His hood concealed most of his face, it was surprising that Titania's vision was good enough to discern detail from her distance.

"Sadly," he started with a deep sigh, "Kageyama has a very important performance with that flute of his, and I can't let you stop his big moment."

"That flute will kill whoever hears it!" Titania fired back. "And the train he took will take him straight to the -" her eyes widened in shock "- the guild masters meeting!"

"Bingo."

"That... that monster!" the knight roared. "You!" she pointed, "get out of our way!"

A simple broadsword was projected into his hand. "It's never that simple," he said.

Titania erupted from her spot towards him. Avenger reinforced his sword and slashed through the blades she launched from her back.

Flying right into him with her swords, Avenger somersaulted over his foe and had to quickly whip around as Titania launched another sword from her wheel at him. Avenger threw his broadsword at her, making Titania fly into the air to dodge.

Unlimited Blade Works called, and a poem forever burned into his mind, like many, was called forth.

 _'Spirit and technique, flawless and firm_  
 _Our strength rips the mountains_  
 _Our swords split the water_  
 _Our names reach the imperial villa_  
 _The two of us cannot hold the heavens together.'_

He took a breath and in his hands were Kanshou and Bakuya. They would always be with him, no matter the battle the married swords followed him. Avenger threw the pair at his foe, and Titania swerved out of the way.

Projecting another pair, Avenger launched himself into the air towards her.

The two met their blades head on.

Avenger fell back towards the ground and Titania followed. The Fairy Tail mage aggressively fought, but Avenger was expertly dodging and blocking all of her strikes - but he wasn't countering at all, confusing the legal mage.

"Erza behind you!" Lucy yelled.

Using her magic to equip more swords to the rotating wheel behind her, the wheel closed and started spinning incredibly fast, creating a shield that blocked the first pair of the married swords he traced, making them vanish.

Tracing a dozen common swords Avenger catapulted them forwards. Titania used her Heavens Wheel to meet the swords head on in a collision of steel. Avenger ran towards her with surprising speed and started a flurry of slashes which she met.

They went back and forth trying to gain the upper hand, but they were at a stalemate. Every feint, parry and slice was met with an equal force.

Titania looked frustrated.

Avenger didn't.

Fairy Tail had an impressive swordsman on their side. Avenger had no doubt he could beat Titania at her current state, but if she had more unique armors like the one she had on... the mere prospect excited him.

"Taurus!" Lucy called, ruining the element of surprise she had as a giant humanoid bull tried to tackle Avenger from behind. The servant dodged, making Taurus run straight into Erza.

Titania shoved the spirit off her quickly, projecting even more swords in the air above her.

Avenger surveyed the situation in front of him.

Two against one... it was a valid enough excuse for him to abort his mission. Ultear wanted him to stall for Kageyama, and he definitely did that. She wouldn't be that angry if he told her he retreated due to an unfavorable situation...

...hopefully.

Avenger jumped backwards into the air and projected a bow. He quickly fired enough arrows to deflect every one of Titania's swords before firing a broken D-rank Noble Phantasm at them with explosive results.

When the dust settled he was gone.


	5. Chapter 5

**W** **ARNING: there is a lot of mention of Fairy Tail's geography and countries in the next few chapters. Look at a map of Earthland if you get confused by the geography talk, it helps a lot. Literally 10 of the 14 countries in Ishgar (the continent) is mentioned.**

* * *

 _Protect the Princess! The Rise of Rome!: Part 1_

* * *

It wasn't like **Avenger** had failed. No... quite the opposite, in his own opinion.

Of course, his opinion didn't matter. Which made scaling the great airship of Grimoire Heart even more difficult - because the chances of him being thrown straight off were higher than he would have wanted. Ultear wasn't a fan of failure, but at least he tried...

All he did was try. Sure, his master was never satisfied, but like Rin, he would eventually melt her cold exterior.

And, knowing Ultear, her interior was subzero.

It didn't take Avenger long to realize that the window to his master's room would be his primary access point. Ultear, despite the loyalty she had for Grimoire Heart's master, still kept her cards close to her chest. The dark guild knew of him, but they didn't see him often and it was suppose to stay that way.

Hindsight was twenty twenty... and Avenger was lucky he put a latch on the outside of the window sooner rather than later. The wind was brutal since the airship was still moving, but Avenger managed to open the window and dive inside. He immediately felt his master's annoyance and closed the window, stopping the obnoxiously loud noise coming from outside

Ultear had the most private room on the entire airship, but that meant being too close to the massive engines.

"Avenger," her voice called, sounding as wonderful as it always sounded. Luckily for him, it didn't seem like she was that angry - or angry at all. Which was new, but not unwelcome. "Come here," she ordered, "quietly."

He could tell by her voice that she was lounging on her couch, a favorite past time of hers, while most likely reading a book. The living set up consisted of a few love seats and Ultear's prized 'L' shape sectional sofa that she made Avenger carry to her room all by himself. The strange part was that the fireplace finishing the area was lit - something he's never seen before.

Ultear loved to watch the world burn, but other than that she preferred the cold.

He walked deeper into the room and his brow rose.

Ultear was indeed on her beloved 'L' sofa, and so was Meredy. The younger, pink haired member of Grimoire Heart was laying almost on top of Ultear, curled up to her mentor's side and sound asleep. Ultear herself was laying on her back, one arm holding a book and the other wrapped around Meredy - it looked like Meredy was cutting all circulation to Ultear's left arm, but Ultear didn't seem to care. The master of Avenger eyed him as he approached, the fire reflecting off her dark eyes.

"Sit."

He sat.

"Sit closer," she reiterated, and raised her bare feet. Avenger wanted to sigh, but gave no outward reaction as he sat closer and allowed his master to prop her feet up on his lap.

He locked eyes with her again sighed at her intense gaze. He went to work rubbing her feet... the warrior inside of him was ashamed.

They used to call him a brownie for a reason...

"Shouldn't you be at the council?" he asked carefully, not trying to wake Meredy up. Ultear was a member of Fiore's council that governed all magical affairs. Her intentions were less than pure, not that she ever told Avenger her intentions, and if she got discovered the entire country would be after her.

Ultear's book lowered - surprisingly - and she gave him her full attention as her other arm idly stroked Meredy's back.

If he wasn't terrified of his master's wrath, the sight would be one of the most touching he'd ever seen.

"My time with them is drawing closer to its end," she answered, "and I've decided to use some of the vacation days I've saved up."

"Vacation days... do I have some saved up? Or do I lack that as well as healthcare and a retirement fund?"

"You get fifteen minutes every year," she said with a smirk.

"I almost have half and hour," his bland sarcasm was an EMIYA trademark, "how fortunate I am to have a master like you." His eyes trailed down to where he was still massaging her feet. "So lucky."

"As you are not on your knees for failing your mission, you are very lucky."

He knew it was coming. No matter how he spun it, they both knew he failed. Avenger refused to fail missions as a loyal servant, and this was a first in their partnership - if anyone would actually call it a partnership rather than a slavery.

"The odds were against me. Titania and a Celestial Spirit mage held me at bay while the Salamander and a stripper went after Kageyama. I tried to salvage a dead situation and..."

"Stop," she commanded, "you know that excuses mean little."

"I don't want to fail you," he said honestly. As much as he abhorred some of her ideals, he wouldn't be in this world without her. There was no guarantee that without Heaven's Feel, the third magic, he'd be able to sign another contract with someone else. If he tempted fate and was wrong... well he doubted Ankhseram would give him a third chance.

Also he genuinely did not want to see his master hurt. They were bonded whether they wanted to be or not.

She knew, and he knew, that he didn't put the effort he could have. Ultear must have already had her suspicions that the mission would fail the second he started protesting the orders she gave him.

Avenger knew he overstepped his boundaries as a servant, but Ultear should've known that she overstepped her boundaries as a master. Sure, he would follow her whims, yet making a man step on his own ideals like that?

Ultear must have known.

It seemed like his honesty struck a chord. Her expression relaxed, and even softened. "Don't think the amount of loyalty you've shown me for so long has been forgotten," she said, "Lullaby was nothing but the side project of a side project. The outcome was sad, but it hasn't inconvenienced me at all."

What a relief. She forgave him.

"What happened with Lullaby?" he asked. After he fled from the train station he high tailed it straight back to the airship.

"Kageyama made it to the meeting."

"Really?"

She nodded. "I thought he would never make it that far without your help. He was more determined than we thought."

"That's... impressive. Outrunning two Fairy Tail mages."

"It would have been if he didn't lose his nerve. According to the report the council received, Makarov of Fairy Tail convinced him that Eisenwald was wrong and he decided not to play the flute."

He didn't outwardly show it, but Avenger was incredibly happy with the results.

"...and then the flute decided it would try to kill them instead."

"Huh?"

She seemed amused. "It is a book of Zeref, after all. Lullaby became sentient and became a giant monster that wanted to kill everyone there."

That sounded even worse than the superhero movies Avenger used to watch back at Fuyuki.

"A flute just turned into a giant monster?"

"Bigger than most buildings, according to the report," she said. "My feet," she reminded. Avenger was so deep in thought he stopped the massage.

"Of course, master."

"The masters decided not to dirty their hands," Ultear continued, "and left the battle to Fairy Tail's mages. By then the two you battled had returned. Titania did the most damage, and Lullaby eventually toppled into a cluster of buildings. Other than the members of Eisenwald, no casualties or major injuries."

"No casualties? I thought anyone who heard Lullaby died."

He must have been a tad too loud because Meredy shifted. Ultear's glare promised punishments worse than death if the younger girl woke up, luckily for him Meredy stayed asleep. Ultear's book fell off the edge of the couch and onto the floor as she wrapped her other arm around Meredy now - giving Avenger even more mixed feelings about how sweet yet scary his master truly was.

Ultear was still capable of love. She could be saved.

"Well," Ultear began, looking ten times more comfortable (she had finally managed to move her left arm to regain some circulation), "turns out Lullaby's voice is only lethal when it sings. Apparently the beast was talking to the mages... or rather boasting and screaming in pain. Titania punctured its body multiple times and the tone of its music was changed enough to ruin the deadly affects."

"Wow... she truly is amazing," his starry expression was cut off as he could feel darkness come from his master. She must hate Fairy Tail more than Avenger realized. "Sorry master, they're the enemy but... her swordsmanship... and the way she treats them..." he became starry again, "wonderful. Like she's from a dream or -"

Ultear tore her foot away from his lap.

"Master?"

She continued to look at him with a gaze like stone.

"Master?" he repeated. "Did something happen?"

Why was she upset? He could respect someone even though they were natural enemies, yet she couldn't? Perhaps it was a cultural thing that he just didn't understand? It wasn't like he was born in Earthland, or spent any time studying the culture. Maybe he said something that offended her.

Earthland seemed like the earth he knew except magic wasn't kept a secret and the assembly line was deemed obsolete. No industrial revolution. Which, for Avenger, was a nice change of atmosphere from his old world.

"Avenger," his master's voice snapped him out of his daze.

"Yes master?"

"Kiss my feet."

"Master?"

"You just massaged it. Now kiss it."

"Perhaps I can kiss a ring instea -"

"Now."

Ultear's ire was truly something he wished to avoid, but when she just became triggered all of the sudden what was he to do?

Rin did the same thing whenever he complimented any other girl other than herself... he didn't know why it angered her either. Rin basically owned him for a while... there was nothing to be jealous of. Honestly, being with Rin in London wasn't that different than his situation with Ultear.

Ultear did more crime and feet kissing while Rin did more human experimentation. Avenger still doesn't know which one he preferred.

Sakura was never this bad, he thought as kneeled on the ground and placed a kiss right on the middle of Ultear's right foot. Admittedly, there was nothing wrong with it. Ultear and uncleanly could not be used in the same sentence.

But...

It still annoyed him.

"Are you satisfied now, Master? Or should I give you a sponge bath now?"

"You should obey," she shot back.

"Make me."

Ultear growled and rose her hand, her command seals glowing.

He could feel his Prana being drained back into her, but he still held his ground. After she forced him to go through with the last mission, to make him participate in an attempted massacre, she would have to use a command seal. That would be her punishment.

"Ultear?" Meredy said softly as she stirred, her eyes not opening as she nuzzled her makeshift bed. "What's wrong?"

And like that the tension was gone.

"Nothing," Ultear answered quickly, "rest."

Meredy muttered something that sounded like 'okay' and nodded back to sleep.

There was silence.

Avenger, who was still kneeling on the floor, quietly picked up his master's book and handed back to her.

"I'm sorry," he said as he sat back down. Ultear wordlessly put her feet back into his lap and started to read - she didn't say sorry.

She was the master so she was always right... she didn't have to say sorry.

Thankfully she was returning the mana she took. It wasn't a verbal admission... but the thought alone still meant something to him.

The silence lasted hours.

"Avenger," Ultear said as she closed her now finished book, some tome about an ancient magic she was trying to learn. At this point, Meredy was awake and crudely braiding Avenger's hair. "There is another reason I am here. A direct order from Master Hades... to you."

 _That_ made Avenger raise a brow. While the rest of Grimoire Heart knew of his existence, they also knew he belonged to Ultear and that she didn't like sharing with anyone. Period.

Master Hades respected Ultear enough to not order her servant around like he easily could've, this was the first time Avenger was called for something not explicitly planned from Ultear herself.

"Your will is my command," Avenger said, noting the dissatisfied expression on his master's face.

"It isn't my will, but Hades' offered no argument," Ultear bit back. Meredy watched curiously and accidentally tugged at his hair too hard, making him wince. "He caught word that there is a super weapon in Stella," she continued, "while we have no particular interest in it, there are parties in Stella that should not come into control of it."

"The insurrection?" Avenger guessed.

"Indeed."

That was... troubling. Stella had a stable enough government, and good relationship with Fiore, but the insurrection was a demon of its own right. The insurrection was a powerful guild that had decided to rebel and rapidly gained numbers. They were steadily gaining ground on Stella's army with incredible tactics and decisive victories.

"The civil war they're having is known for its atrocities," Meredy said, "is it safe?"

"No," Ultear replied tightly, "but master Hades is right. The insurrection will not stop with Stella, and if they come into contact with a superweapon that supposedly makes Etherion seem tame..."

"I'll go," Avenger announced. "I've been in so many wars they don't scare me anymore. I will find the weapon and if I can't retrieve it, I will dispose of it."

Ultear didn't catch his blatant lie and nodded.

His time as a Counter Guardian wasn't as long as EMIYA's, but it was enough to be scarred by the horrors of war. He wasn't completely lying, while going to war did incite some fear from him, it wasn't the thought of battle that truly scared him.

It was the name of the insurrection that terrified him...

Rome.

* * *

It was time again, **Saber** noted, as a legion of soldiers and servants came marching towards Magnolia. They came with giant banners proclaiming the king's symbol held high - royalty was coming.

From her spot outside the guild, she felt the air shift beside her. Arturia turned her head slightly and noticed the tall man that had appeared beside her. Not only did he tower over the short King of Knights, he was covered from head to toe and had an impressive collection of staves hanging off his back. His eyes were the only thing uncovered, and fine strands of blue hair poked out from under its covers.

Mystogan. Fairy Tail's most mysterious mage.

"You're back," she noted tersely. Mystogan was known for putting everyone in the guild to sleep (in order to completely protect his identity that even Makarov didn't know), and stockpiling on quests before leaving for extended periods of time. He wasn't a money maker, but he was still part of the family.

"Not for long," he replied, his voice deep. "I am already on my way out, but I need to warn you..."

"Of what?" Arturia's eyes never left the approaching royal army.

Mystogan also watched as the army approached. "Do not let anyone travel into Seven," he warned, referring to one of the two countries bordering Fiore, the other being Bosco. "Not only is there machinations happening in the government, a dangerous warrior has been wandering the border of Seven and Iceberg looking for a worthy challenger. You're the only one I know who can hold a candle against her - not even Gildarts. I doubt it will be long before the warrior makes her way to the battlefields of Stella."

"Troubling indeed. And Bosco?"

"Since the conflict in Stella started many guilds have traveled inwards towards the center of the country. The perimeter of the country, minus the side bordering Fiore and the ocean, are now roamed by independent mages."

The massive army was now entering the town's outskirts. Arturia placed a hand on her chin and was deep in thought.

"The eastern half of Iceberg is still reasonably protected with soldiers and mages from the Pergrande. Once you make it past Stella the rest of the journey should be safe," Mystogan also commented, making Arturia nod slowly.

"Thank you Mystogan, without you my mission could have taken a drastic turn" Arturia said sincerely. "Where are you off to now?"

"I can feel the telltale signs of an Anima being opened in Joya. It's a tough journey, but the rift will be larger than average."

Arturia wasn't a complete expert on the cartography of the world she was in, but she knew the country of Joya was nestled between Stella, Desierto, Iceberg, Minstral and two different seas - it was the travel hub of Ishgar. But the civil war in Stella made the small kingdom cut their ties with the northern countries until the threat was dealt with.

"The trip to Joya will be quite perilous, it would be better if you traveled with me," Arturia noted. "It will offer the both of us suitable protection against threats."

Mystogan hesitated. "You're mission is..."

"Quite important," she inserted, "and cannot be failed no matter what. If we run into a challenge that distracts me from the mission, then I'd prefer to have someone I can absolutely place my trust in watching my back."

Arturia's charisma rank was B when she was still a servant, and it seemed to carry over to her new life. Mystogan's shoulders loosened and he nodded stiffly, not liking the attention he was about to receive, but choosing Arturia's favor over his preference for privacy.

"I'll meet you as we leave," he said and vanished into the air, right as the approaching army was within yelling distance of Fairy Tail.

"Arturia!" the voice of a young girl called. Arturia smiled as a young girl with light green hair ran towards her, the nervous cries of the soldiers behind her going unnoticed. Arturia knelt down and scooped the girl into her arms, smiling as small arms wrapped around her.

"Hi," the girl said with a bubble voice. Her large dark green eyes were staring up at the knight excitedly. Her skin was fair, with straight cheekbones and a straight nose - it was the face of royalty.

"Hisui," Arturia said affectionately to the crowned princess of Fiore as she put her down, "you've grown taller since last year."

"I'm taller than dad now!" the princess exclaimed proudly, even though growing taller than the King of Fiore was a common occurrence for most people ten years and above.

"That's wonderful. Are you ready for the trip?"

"Of course! Though daddy said it's more dangerous now and is sending Arcadios and the entire Garou Knights with us! Whose gonna protect him while we're gone? Two years ago it was just us two!"

A large, heavily armored man approached. His silver armor was truly wonderful, befitting of the round table itself. Arturia knew under the silver headpiece with yellow plumage was a dark haired, dark skinned man who was extremely loyal to the king.

"The world is changing, princess," he said, "your father cares for your safety much more than his own."

Toma Fiore was a good king, Arturia decided, already a better king than she had been by Arcadios' words alone.

"Arturia Pendragon Dreyar," Arcadios greeted slowly, to which nodded back as a reply. "Are you ready for the journey?"

Every two years, as a sign of good will between Fiore and the capital of the continent of Ishgar, the Pergrande Kingdom, the princess travels to Pergrande to socialize with their royal family, who also had kids of similar ages.

The king always entrusted his daughter to Arturia, who was Hisui's hero and the strongest mage in Fiore. Two years ago, the continent was peaceful enough that Arturia was the only guard needed on the journey - which made it both quick and enjoyable.

Now seemingly every country except Fiore and Pergrande had issues with control, and the risk wasn't worth it. The king had sent his personal execution squad, the Garou Knights, and Arcadios himself. Which, along with Mystogan, was a force to be reckoned with.

"Of course," the former king answered. "We shall set off in the morning. Do you want to come into the guild, Hisui? I know Mirajane and Erza are very excited to talk to you again."

The girl was jumping in excitement.

* * *

 **Authors Note: There's a long, more eventful, chapter being edited right now. This chapter is just to introduce the arc and for me to address a few things. **

**Don't worry, author notes won't be a recurring thing.**

 **Anyways, the direction of this story shifted dramatically as this arc was being written. Originally, this story was going to be canon Fairy Tail but with Avenger and Saber - that has changed. Just writing canon with two new characters and a new subplot isn't original and was already getting boring.** **Every chapter before this was just part of the intro, and even though Galuna Island was suppose to happen to help flesh out Ultear more, the intro is now over.**

 **Basically, this story went from 0 to 100 real quick. Canon events will still happen, but this story is now a MAJOR crossover between Fairy Tail and, not just Fate/stay, but all of fate... you'll see.**

 **That's about it, the next chapter is already completed and will be uploaded soon. Tell me what you think of the upcoming chapters, and I'll also answer any questions you got. I really do appreciate the feedback this story has received. Special thanks to** _ **Vongola Nono Timoteo,**_ **whose review sparked the sudden change in the story. Also anyone interested in being a beta for this story please message me, I really need another set of eyes and ears for quality control purposes.**


	6. Chapter 6

_Part 2: All Roads Lead to Rome._

* * *

Being nervous was a strange sensation for him.

Ever since **Avenger** was young, he knew he was different. The great Fuyuki Fire had melted whatever he was down to the core and reshaped him as a sword - and nothing else. It would be completely justified for any normal person to be nervous, but from the moment the Magus Killer had found him, Shirou Emiya and normal could not coexist.

During his first archery competition when he was young, the first and only one Kiritsugu had attended, Avenger wasn't nervous. When he entered a school full of unknown people, he wasn't nervous. The first time he told Sakura it would be better if she started staying at his house over night, he was as calm as ever. Not even looking the famed Cú Chulainn in the eyes was very concerning.

But this was different. Avenger's mouth was dry and his palms clammy.

War. Death. Horror... oh no...

He shut his eyes tight, trying to exhale the feeling with ragged breaths.

Just remember... he had it easy. EMIYA, the servant of the bow, had way more years as Alaya's dog than he did.

But even a day as a Counter Guardian was a day too long.

There was never any gratitude. Avenger - just Shirou at the time - was thrown into a warzone with usually little instructions other than win. No matter what. Win.

No saving families from a burning building, he was the one who had to set the fires. No happy reunions and thankful people - the thing he lived for - but rather crying children and desperate parents. No matter how hard he tried to change the fate that drove EMIYA insane, the same tragedies just kept happening and happening and happening... happening until his soul ached and the reflection in the mirror wasn't recognizable.

It hurt. It always hurt.

This wasn't for Alaya... no this was for Ultear.

Ultear. His master. He was a sword. He had to please his master.

Avenger swallowed the lump in his throat. This was for his master... he had something worth fighting for.

If being the hero of justice Shirou Emiya dreamed of was possible, then it started with finding justice for Ultear Milkovich. She _will_ be the first person. No matter how far he had to go, Avenger would save her.

From Hades. From Ur. From herself. There was a reason Rin's pendant came to her - he just had to find it.

Smoke billowed in the distance, turning the sunset into something more malicious. Avenger couldn't see the city, but from the information he got from Drebin before he set out proved to be reliable. The country of Stella had two massive fissures, one in the north that lead into Iceberg, and one in the south that combined with the Great Materia Channel (which was a narrow strip of water, 15 miles wide at it's narrowest point by Stella and around 32 miles at it's widest point by Fiore, that separated the northern countries- Fiore, Bosco, Stella - from the gargantuan country that was Minstrel and ended at Joya). The southern crevice was at least 30 miles long on it's own and was so deep skyscrapers could be built in it.

Which there was. The capital of Stella was named Lexius, named after an ancient god much like the Materia channel was, and was called the hanging city by many. Avenger traveled through the war torn city around the giant crack in the ground stealthily and climbed a building, staring down at the crevice that was as wide as Manhattan, he could see the architectural masterpiece below.

The crevice was maybe 4 kilometers wide, and many more deep. On the opposing walls there were massive buildings carved into, and protruding, from the limestone walls. The upper half of the city was made in ancient times, with intricate stone walkways hovered above massive heights. Three marvelous marble bridges connected the opposing walls. In between the bridges, Avenger could see the tops of skyscrapers reaching up from all the way below - so deep Avenger could only see fog when he looked towards the ground.

All the way at the end of the crevice, so far Avenger could only see it with reinforced eyes, he could see a giant waterfall from Materia Channel. The waterfall fell right behind a grand building - the royal castle.

While the city looked beautiful, more beautiful than anything in his old world, it was in chaos.

People ran with their families into the walls, most likely to bunkers. The bridges was filled with citizens desperately rushing to safety with whatever supplies they could find and guards trying to create defensive positions. If the ancient super weapon was anywhere, it would be in the oldest part of the city, which meant Avenger was in luck - Rome hadn't got to the sacred part of Lexius.

A large building behind Avenger started to crumble, making the servant jump from one skyscraper to another to avoid the collapse. If the city in the crevice wasn't impressive enough, the area surrounding the fissure was covered in buildings and homes for miles as well. If the crack was the main city, then the area around it was the suburbs.

And it was in shambles.

The soldiers and mages of Stella had lost control of the outer city, and it was one of the worst war zones Avenger had ever seen. There wasn't any lines to be held, per se, and it was just units of the loyalists skirmishing with units of Rome on the war torn streets. Access to the crevice was shut down, and he could see civilians being rounded up by the Roman soldiers and led away.

At least Rome was taking prisoners instead of just killing them on the spot.

Looking down another street, Avenger noticed a small unit of Stella soldiers (they had the royal symbol, a five pointed star with the top point elongated, on their backs) marching down the street with their hands held in the air, weaponless. There were about eight of them, and by the looks of it they wanted to try their luck as Roman prisoners instead of fighting. Cowardly, but most people wouldn't put their honor above their lives.

The soldiers started to turn a corner but suddenly stopped. The leader of their pact clearly yelled 'we surrender', so loud Avenger could hear it from his perch, and the group fell to their knees. Avenger couldn't see who the soldiers were surrendering to from his position, a building was blocking them, but it was obviously members of Rome.

And a rocket crashed into them. The force of the thing - _whatever the hell it was -_ was so powerful that Avenger had to brace himself from all the way on top of a building far from the group. It was so powerful that not one, but _two_ buildings had crumbled near the point of impact. Avenger uncovered his eyes and stared with reinforced eyes.

It was... a man. A single man.

He seemed to be around the same height as Avenger, but even from a distance it was easy to notice that he was much more muscular than the servant of vengeance. His body was covered in an ancient roman style armor which ended mid thigh - something that Avenger would never have expected to see in this new land. It was golden and majestic in every right of the word. A wine colored cape and sash added a royal distinction, with four gold colored chains holding an emerald colored gem right under the man's solar plexus that was glowing with magical energy.

The part that really caught Avenger's attention was the mans face. Undoubtedly handsome with unkempt cobalt hair... but the white of his eyes were black and his iris' were the color of blood. The expression on his face was that of a madman - clouded with a madness Avenger had only seen on a specific group of people before.

He had the madness of a Berserker.

A wounded Stella soldier tried to crawl away, but the Roman man walked over, placed a foot on his back, and stomped. Once. Twice...

But before he could it a third time his arm shot in the air and grabbed Avenger's arrow before it could hit him. The black and red eyes locked onto Avenger's despite the distance. The man snapped the arrow and left the Stella soldier alone - instead he was walking towards Avenger.

And after a few steps he suddenly catapulted off the ground with a shock wave and towards Avenger.

Avenger had a second before the man was next to him, bare fist cocked back. Avenger dodged the punch that definitely would've taken his head off and somersaulted off the skyscraper he was on.

He landed on another tall building below him and rolled into a crouch.

The man - gladiator - launched towards Avenger.

 _Too fast!_ Avenger could barely think before a fist impacted his stomach. The servants mind went blank as he crumpled around the fist - the impact cracking the ground below him.

In a split second Avenger was sent flying - through a building, through another building, and across city blocks, his mind still in shutdown after such an impact. Avenger flew into the more suburban part of the city and through the roof of a random house.

* * *

 **Saber** knew better than to underestimate any weapon, but things were going too easily. It partly had to do with Mystogan, who had already scouted every threat on the way to Pergrande and was leading them around them, but also to the sheer presence of the escort.

Two S-ranked mages, six A-ranked mages and a royal knight. Any petty sensor could tell that the amount of magic in the group was not something to mess with. Arturia alone had an entire guild worth of mana - her dragon blood proved more potent in this world.

The mission was an important political one between two of the most powerful countries on the continent. Arturia only wished that the Garou Knights didn't have to come. They were most likelygreat mages, Arturia didn't doubt that.

It was just that all great mages had their quirks, which meant the Garou Knights were truly great mages.

There were six of them, and only a few of them could cause a headache.

If someone were to describe the most generic, stereotypical assassin, then the description would most likely describe the leader of the Garou Knights, Kama. He carried two large scythes with him, and looked like assassins from the medieval times. From the few and far between times Kama actually talked, he seemed like a very passionate and devote follower of the king. Other than that, Kama seemed to prefer keeping to himself, which was fine with Arturia.

There was Cosmos, who was a pink haired girl whose clothing was themed after flowers. Cosmos kept calling Arturia beautiful, always tried to touch the Fairy Tail mage, and blushed whenever Arturia looked at her. Compared to Gilles de Rais, or some of the other fanatics Arturia had worshiping her, Cosmos wasn't very troubling.

Cosmos' partner was Kamika, who looked like a nadeshiko. She liked poking fun at people, which was fine until she started overstepping her boundaries. She had the potential to be the most annoying of the Knights with her verbal barbs, but luckily she was somewhat polite enough to be calm.

Ousuke was a bald man who was dressed like he spent the last decade fishing, which was all he talked about. Arturia liked fishing just as much as the next king, but it got tiring after six hours of regaling fishing tails. Everyone seemed annoyed by him except Hisui, who was surprisingly patient, but he wasn't the worst.

It was Neppa who was the worst. He was a big man who always had a haughty, holier-than-thou expression on his face. It was like his face was stuck in the same expression and he couldn't change it. He was always boastful, and he never went anywhere without a soda bottle firmly between his teeth.

He just kept chewing the _damn_ bottle so loudly. It was so constant that Mystogan of all people whispered to her about how much he wanted Neppa's teeth to just succumb to the glass and shatter.

It was a mission to promote peaceful relations, but Arturia had no shame in admitting that she agreed with Mystogan wholeheartedly. She thought _her_ knights were bad...

Well, of the round table one of them slept with Guinevere, Arturia's wife, and the other killed her... the Garou Knights weren't that bad the more she thought about it.

Still, why on Earthland would anyone enjoy _chewing_ on a glass bottle? If Arturia was king she would make it a law to keep Neppa away from every bottle in the nation - he could just smoke instead.

Which exactly why she wasn't king, she noted.

The company she had really wasn't that entertaining...

The trip to Pergrande was a long one. They're path was to travel through the capital of Bosco, where Hisui spent time with their queen and her over affectionate hugging, through Iceberg (their current location) and around Stella (they were within 30 miles of an active battlefield, which made this the most dangerous part of the mission). It was smooth sailing once they got past Stella - Pergrande had an escort waiting as close as they could send troops.

Arturia would have preferred taking a boat to Minstrel and traveling across the densely populated coastline through Joya, but with Joya's border closed they had to take a more dangerous route.

Things could never just be simple. She knew her luck wasn't as bad as Shirou's was, but sometimes it made her wonder if her beloved former master's worst stat had rubbed off on her.

She smiled to herself. Wherever Shirou was, somewhere in another dimension, he was probably in the middle of some crazy task he couldn't refuse because he was too selfless for his own good.

* * *

When he finally regained thought, he was in a bathroom.

 **Avenger** used his Structural Grasping magic on his own body.

Ribcage was shattered in multiple places, pieces of it was in his lungs... and that wasn't even where he was hit. Internal organs were basically paste or bleeding badly. There was a fist imprint in _his body._ His spinal column was cracked and he knew his back was going to be one massive bruise if he made it to the next day.

All from a single punch.

Avenger growled. He was defeated by a punch? A single punch? His hand slammed into the ground in frustration, and mana flooded his system. He knew it was his class that was making him so mad, but that didn't change the fact that the thoughts were his and he meant them.

He was an avenger. How could vengeance be served if he was so weak?

Vengeance would be enacted on that gladiator, but first he needed to rest.

In a flash of light the holy sheath of Excalibur, Avalon, was in his hands. The sheath had been living in his body since the Fuyuki fire, and Avenger could replicate a perfect copy with minimal cost.

The potent healing abilities of the sheath was only possible when it was in proximity with it's rightful owner - King Arthur. Arturia was far away, most likely in Fiore, but she was still in the world, which meant Avalon was active.

At it's current rate, it would take five minutes for Avalon to heal Avenger enough to even imagine fighting the gladiator again. His opponent easily trumped him in both speed and strength by a landslide. A direct confrontation was suicide.

But the way the gladiator erupted from street level, across several city blocks, and to the skyscraper he was perched on? Avenger hadn't seen a human do that in any of the worlds he was in. It would be surprising if even a heroic spirit could do such a feat.

Wait.

Avenger crawled into the bathtub, closing the curtains and laying as still as he could.

He could hear the gladiator come through the hole in the ceiling. The ragged, angry breaths of his enemy made Avenger stop breathing completely. Avenger could see the outline of the man through the thin curtain.

The gladiator bent down and scraped some of Avenger's blood off the ground, he smelled it and looked around, before jumping out through the hole - back to hunting.

Avenger sighed in relief.

Avalon was working it's magic, but there was no way a fight was possible. A single punch almost sent him to his deathbed... he couldn't even lay out an attack of his own. If Avenger reinforced his body, he'd be fine, but the gladiator was _so damn fast he couldn't even see -_

Avenger took a deep breath. Calm down. He was the bone of his sword. His opponent fought with his fists, while Avenger could call upon hundreds... no _thousands_ of blades of all different kinds.

Besides, he didn't have to fight. He just had to get away. Ultear didn't send him here to win the war, he just had to stop Rome from obtaining a weapon of mass destruction... even though they clearly already had one.

Avalon did enough work that Avenger could move, and possible fight, so the servant got up and started to slowly make his way out of the house.

The second he exited the front door the gladiator was upon him. _Shit._ Avenger reinforced his entire body and batted the fist of the gladiator away, before backhanding his foe with the same hand. The gladiator's head snapped to the side, and Avenger used the chance to spin into a roundhouse kick and hit the gladiator in the side.

Despite being surprised and thrown a few feet away, the gladiator stayed on his feet and roared.

Avenger needed an advantage.

 _Steel is my body and fire is my blood._

He had one.

A thick cloud blocking the sky had finally passed, revealing the full moon in all it's glory. The gladiator looked up, with an almost serene expression on his face. Moonlight seemed to be shining directly onto him.

"Thank you Diana," he said, the first words Avenger had heard him say, "no matter how separated we are, you still bless me."

 _What was this feeling?_

Why did everything seem so hopeless now. Why why why why -

Avenger's teeth mashed together. The gladiator was doing something to affect his mental state, he didn't know what, but it made his stance uneasy.

"I am Caligula, emperor of Rome," the man spoke, "Flucticulus Diana... moonlight, devour my soul!"

And then he howled to the sky. Moonlight swirled around him as his eyes turned into glowing white lights. Avenger felt a shiver down his spin as the gladiator looked at him, just the look in his foes eyes made Avenger's muscles weak.

It wasn't possible... but it was. That man shouldn't be here, yet there he was. A Heroic Spirit that was anything but heroic; a legend that was anything but revered. A man once so loved and praised by his people that went crazy with madness that wasn't even cured in death. An emperor of Rome, a great one at that.

Berserker.

Flucticulus Diana. By all the indications it was Caligula's noble phantasm, and by the looks of it his Mad Enhancement was increases tenfold - a hundred fold.

Jumping back, Avenger called upon his reality marble. He had no time to go over the details of how - he had to fight. Combat against a beserker alone was a bad idea, but fighting one that took power from the moon?

Suicidal.

But Avenger was a faker. He would steal that too.

The sword was of similar design to the vikings, except it was holier than that. The ornamental gold hilt and crossguard meant little to Avenger, and the wonderfully elegant D-guard that connected with the quillon was actually more than aesthetic. The blade itself was a thing of wonder being made of Damascus steel, the method of making such an alloy lost, that had a pattern that made the sword look like flowing water.

Skofnung was the sword of legendary Danish king Hrólf Kraki. It was one of the most powerful swords he had in Unlimited Blade Works. The sword was so, _so_ picky about it's summoning parameters that Avenger had never summoned it in battle before. The sword could absolutely never have sunlight touch it's hilt, and it could not be drawn in the presence of a woman.

But the limits to it was not without great advantages.

The sword was imbued with the souls of King Kraki's twelve greatest berseker bodyguards. Behind him, ghostly ethereal hands shot out of the ground and six giant behemoths of men climbed out. Vikings. The Axe, The Claymore, The Spear, The Shield... and the biggest one with a tree trunk resting on his shoulder - The Log. All twelve were pinnacles of the term 'beserker'.

One of Avenger's class skills gave him more power the more damage he received, but summoning all twelve? He wished. He could summon ten if he didn't fight, but standing still wasn't his modus operendi. Not when he was wielding Skofnung, it would be a disservice to the blade.

Caligula smiled crazily and charged.

Avenger allowed the berserkers to rush past him.

Caligula met The Axe head on. He took the overhead swing of The Axe without buckling and grabbed the metal shaft with his other hand. The Axe's weapon was ripped from his ghostley hands.

Caligula span it expertly, blocking a jab from The Spear, and swinging it towards The Claymore horizontally. The Shield intercepted, his massive wooden shield blocking the attack. The great axe Caligula took got stuck in the shield, and The Log raised his massive weapon and slammed it down.

It impacted and broke on Caligula's head. The emperor let out a triumphant roar and pulled at the axe embedded in the shield.

Somehow the axe stayed in the shield and The Shield lost his grip. Both of the warriors namesakes were sent flying into the distance, and The Shield got decimated by a supersonic right hook.

Avenger got behind Caligula and slashed. Caligula expertly sidestepped and grabbed the staff of The Spear's spear with his right hand - completely stopping the weapon inches before it hit him. Caligula yanked at the spear, pulling The Spear right into Avenger, who ran forwards and jumped over the weapon easily.

The Spear managed to get his footing and Avenger landed on the shaft of the spear. Using it as a platform, Avenger flipped over Caligula and tried to swing his sword while in mid air. Caligula brought his left arm up and sparks flew as Skofnung dragged across a metal gauntlet.

Avenger landed in a crouch and slashed broadly at his foe's legs. Caligula took a few steps backwards and ducked - The Spear's attack going right over his head.

Caligula grabbed the shaft of the spear again and jerked it towards him. He headbutted The Spear so hard the spirit vanished from existence.

A second later he clapped his hands and caught The Claymore's blade between his two palms. Caligula smirked at his undead foe, before The Log, without a weapon, bull rushed into him. Caligula flew onto the ground, The Axe and The Shield, disarmed as well, yelled as they charged into the fray.

It wasn't fair.

Surrounded by three foes bigger than him, Caligula thrived. He ducked under a punch from his left and parried a punch from his right into The Log, who was in front of him. He span and backhanded The Axe, who was the one to his left, and sent the warrior flying into a building. Avenger felt the Axe's soul reenter Skofnung.

Caligula ducked low and grabbed The Log's ankle.

Then lifted.

The massive, sumo wrestler like, body of The Log was lifted with ease and Caligula used the ancient warrior _as a club._ The Shield was the defensive member of the Twelve Guardians, and stood no chance. The soul was brutally hit by Caligula's new club - The Log - and sent back into Skofnung.

Caligula's mad eyes locked onto Avenger's, making the servant's legs lock from his gaze alone.

Then it hit him.

The first thing that hit him was that his undead servants weren't bad fighters - they were sloppy. Why? Because they were angry. Livid in fact. The second Caligula's eyes locked with his Avenger felt a deep, rooted anger that he couldn't explain.

That was Caligula's Noble Phantasm, or at least an aspect of it.

The second thing that hit him was The Log.

Avenger huffed in annoyance as he noticed a cut on The Log from Skofnung. He allowed the spirit to retreat back into the blade. His original plan was to have Caligula be distracted by the Twelve - well Five - and wait for the perfect chance to strike, but that wasn't the case any more.

Caligula had brutalized a third of the Twelve Guardians in minutes.

It didn't matter, there was a chance. All he needed was one strike to end the entire battle - Avenger could feel it.

Avenger would never stop trying until Caligula died by his blade.

The Claymore was talented, Avenger realized, as he saw the spirit battle with Caligula.

But he wasn't a heroic spirit.

Avenger launched himself towards the fight. Caligula managed to tear The Claymore's greatsword out of his hands and met Avenger's strike head on. The emperor used his superior strength to send Avenger stumbling away and pounced.

Avenger's instincts took control and he pirouetted around a fatal strike. Sparks flew as Avenger quickly brought his sword up to block a blow that was so powerful his arms buckled.

The Claymore cupped his hands together and slammed them into Caligula's back. The roman emperor stumbled forwards and Avenger lunged at the opportunity - jumping into the air and driving his sword down as hard as he could.

Caligula had to ignore the Claymore and quickly rose his stolen sword to block.

But Skofnung was the sword of a king - nothing was sharper.

Skofnung cleaved through the greatsword and slashed Caligula down his chest, drawing blood.

The Claymore vanished. His job was done.

Avenger lowered his weapon and stood idly.

Caligula fell to his knees, panting, but managed to make his way back onto his feet - something Avenger admired. The gladiator got ready to charge, but suddenly fell onto his knees again, clutching at his chest. He tore at his chest piece throwing it off him, revealing his bare chest and his wound.

The wound that was getting bigger.

Skofnung was a dangerous sword indeed. Being able to summon twelve undead servants wasn't the only ability of the Noble Phantasm - in fact it was the secondary feature.

The first was that any wound the sword inflicted would grow. Larger and larger a cut would grow... until it rips the afflicted apart. It was unavoidable unless the wounded touched by an artifact called the Skofnung Stone, which was embedded in the other half of the weapon, The Shield of Thorkel.

The wound would grow and grow and grow until it was so big something had to be severed. If it was on a leg, depending on the angle, it would end up with the leg being severed. Hypothetically, if the owner cut his finger while cleaning the blade, and the cut was horizontally across the finger, then the wound would grow until the finger fell off.

This wound was at least a foot long and across Caligula's chest.

"Diana!" Caligula called to the moon. "Sweet moonlight! Devour my heart before it's taken from me..."

Somehow the emperor got up again. Despite his wound expanding across his chest, he still stood, fists raised.

Avenger understood, it made sense now. Caligula's legend was that he was actually a great ruler, revered and loved by his people, until he fell into the affection of the moon. After that he slowly turned mad and became the infamous legend that was about to die on his feet.

Loved by the moon. Diana. The servant of vengeance knew a warrior of Caligula's caliber didn't deserve to be pitied, so Avenger wouldn't pity him. Caligula was driven mad by a goddess, ruining a once great ruler.

Avenger raised Skofnung again. Caligula had wounded him, so vengeance was necessary.

He'll make it quick, end the suffering of a madman.

But his world was suddenly consumed by fire - again.

Avenger found himself on the ground, and quickly rolled when he realized he was still on fire. His plain brown cloak that was already tattered was now so burned that fixing it was out of the question. Avenger took off his ruined cloak and glared at the direction of his new attacker.

His eyes widened.

Blonde hair, royal face, short stature, a dress... it looked just like her.

Saber?

* * *

"So Mystogan... what's under the mask?"

 **Arturia** subtlety glanced to the side at Kamika's question. Mystogan had chosen to walk at the back of their formation, and had barely talked the entire journey. He would occasionally take point next to her and actually initiated conversation with Arcadios once - but other than rare moments he didn't interact with any of the Garou Knights.

Back when she was king, Arturia was always pretty insistent about her privacy, to the point where her knight Gawain pretended to be the king in public settings. She thought that was too much...

Mystogan took it to a new level. Apparently the lesser known Fairy Tail mage thought that if he ignored Kamika she would just go away, but by the haughty look on Kamika's face, she wasn't going anywhere.

"Well?" she pursued again, breaking formation and stepping closer to Mystogan, who still refused to look at her.

"I prefer staying hidden," he answered when he realized Kamika wasn't going to back down.

"Do you have something to hide?" Kamika prodded. Arcadios shot her a disapproving look, but she only rolled her eyes at it and refocused on her target. "You're not horrible scarred or anything, are you? I'm sure you're not _that_ ugly..."

"Kamika," Kama interjected, showing his authority as leader of the Garou Knights, "just because you've been lucky enough to avoid injury, doesn't mean you should ask a warrior about his. He's good enough to give you plenty of scars, and it would be justified."

Kamika huffed but returned to her position. Mystogan's gaze never wavered from in front of him, so Arturia was the one to give Kama a thankful look. Kama met her eyes but gave no reaction - he didn't need her acknowledgement.

"I'm kinda curious," Hisui admitted from the center of their protective perimeter, "you're the most mysterious S-rank mage there is, Mystogan. Sorcerer's Magazine always talks about you and people send in pictures of your alleged face... every photo is different though."

Mystogan audibly sighed. "The whole point of my clothing is so people do not talk about me," he admitted, a hint of annoyance in his tone, "it's not like I want to be wearing this in Fiore's heat."

"Surely you are not self conscious about your looks?" the princess asked.

"No, but my family are trouble makers and I would rather not be associated with them."

Hisui stared at Mystogan for a few moments, but was tactful enough to not pry. Getting a sentence, let alone a short conversation, from Mystogan was already surprising, and he just revealed the reason he was so reclusive. Arturia never knew why Mystogan dressed like that, passing it as a quirk, but his answer only made her more curious than anything.

"Understandable," she spoke up. "I too understand what it's like to have family I am not proud of." She definitely knew what it was like to avoid association with her family as well. It was the reason she originally died, admittedly. It hurt thinking about her - about Mordred - but the past was behind her now. She wouldn't forget about it, but it wasn't going to dictate her life any longer.

"You're a Dreyar," Cosmos pointed out. "Laxus is an S-rank and Master Makarov is... well he's Makarov."

"The Dreyar's have their own shadow, but admittedly I am not a Dreyar by blood." Arturia noted the surprised expressions. "The resemblance is uncanny, and I treat them like blood, but it is true. I still keep my original name - Pendragon."

"Sounds like royalty."

"To some people, it was," Arturia admitted with a dry smile. "I'm the last Pendragon, so I try especially hard to bring honor to both my names."

"You're already legendary," Hisui said, looking at Arturia with adoration.

Arturia smiled back.

"Thank you, Hisui. I -"

She could hear a light whistling.

Arturia's instincts flared and she jumped in front of Hisui and slashed an arrow out of the air with her invisible sword. Less than a second later Mystogan slammed one of his staves into the round, creating a magic circle around them.

Arrows flew into them, but Mystogan's magic circle reflected them all into the distance.

Arcadios placed himself right in front of Hisui, the younger princess holding her knight's armored leg.

The Garou Knights sprung into action; Kama and Neppa rushed towards the attackers while the rest surrounded the princess in a triangle formation.

Cosmos used her Plant Magic to create a wall of vines and thick wood around the princess, while Ousuke used Gravity Magic around the wall. Any arrow lost it's momentum in the gravity-less zone and started floating around.

Seeing that the princess was suitable protected, Arturia erupted from her spot towards the origin of the arrows.

She could see Neppa launching acid into the treeline, causing archers flee from the tree tops.

"Get back!" Arturia roared, making Kama and Neppa get behind her. The air concealing her sword flickered as she raised the holy blade and _slashed_.

Her companions braced themselves as every tree within a hundred feet in front of Arturia was bisected. Archers abandoned their position in the leaves and landed onto the path.

Kamika's right arm started to morph from skin into paper, which turned into a purple color and was launched at the enemies. The papers latched onto the archers, and they simply froze like statues.

Neppa stepped towards the now immobilized opponents and conjured a massive pillar of acid which he launched.

Arturia noticed something quick - so quick she could barely see it - leap in front of the immobilized group. There was an eruption of wind that made Arturia brace herself. The acid was blown to the side and immediately started melting the ground and forest, leaving a dark purple haze by the mysterious new assailant.

Kama didn't hesitate and threw himself into the haze and towards the new enemy. A few moments later he was thrown out onto his back.

Arturia rushed forwards, her Invisible Air blowing the poisonous haze away as she drove her sword downwards and into the foe.

Sparks flew.

Arturia's eyes widened as she stood in a standstill. Excalibur was blocked... by the opponents _hand_.

"Please, my liege," the opponent said with a voice that Arturia recognized. "We mean no harm."

She took a step back. She knew that voice. She knew it!

Her breathing started to increase as she stumbled back.

 _That voice!_

It was the last voice she ever heard as King of Camelot.

Even though they were just fighting, the man stepped forwards and got onto his knees, bowing to her.

Arturia's heart stopped as he looked up and smiled at her.

"My king," he addressed, his voice filled with raw emotion, "is this the dream you were talking about?"

 _"Can you see it, King Arthur? ...the continuation to your dream?"_

Those were the last words she heard before she slipped away. The last words anyone had said to King Arthur.

"Bedivere..."

* * *

 **Avenger** locked eyes with her.

No, it wasn't Arturia. While the newcomer so looked so similar to King Arthur it was unnerving, her eyes were a more vivid shade of green, like grass. Arturia's was mixed with blue - like a pond filled with algae.

The newcomer had a red dress not unlike Arturia's, except it wasn't armored plated, was a lot more revealing, and was just... well poofier. It was really quite showy.

What wasn't showy was the jagged, abstract sword she was holding that was leaking flames. Unlimited Blade Works analyzed it instantly.

 _Aestus Estus: The Original Flame._ It was handcrafted by a demigod son of Vulcan, and then blessed by Sol in acknowledgment that the owner was a charioteer whose skilled rivaled the deity's control of the sun itself.

And the name of the owner? First and only owner...

"Behold! It is I, Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, the great artist and flower of Olympia!" she called dramatically, spinning in place twice and waving her arms in an obviously choreographed fashion.

The crazed, berserk look on Caligula's face faded at her words, making the gladiator look like a regular human if his eyes could be ignored. He turned towards Nero, his niece by blood, and tried to walk towards her, falling as he did.

"Uncle!" Nero called as she ran towards her fallen ally. She saw that the wound on Caligula's chest was slowly growing and glared at Avenger, who was slowly trying to inch away as far as possible.

First Caligula, now Nero? His luck was definitely below E-rank.

Though... he never realized Nero was a girl - let alone a girl who looked exactly like King Arthur. History really wasn't good at remembering genders, he realized.

"What did you do to him, savage!?" Nero exclaimed.

"Wounds inflicted by Skofnung will grow without stopping. There is no cure." At least no cure she would ever see.

"That's a Noble Phantasm!" she exclaimed pointing a finger accusingly. "You were reincarnated too! What is you're identity?" she demanded, her outstretched hand forming a fist.

Wow... she was as dramatic as her legend described. Avenger wanted to leave, but the last thing he wanted was the girl with a sword blessed by the sun chasing him around.

"Avenger," he introduced, trying to stall. Skofnung could not be used against a female, and if he tried the sword would shatter itself. He just had to to stall until the curse killed Caligula.

"Folly! We are not put into classes, let alone one different than the main six!"

"I would be an Archer, but I was summoned as a -" it hit him, "- what do you mean you're not put into classes. Caligula is clearly a Berserker and you are clearly a Saber!"

"Summoned?" she actually laughed. "I have no master!"

It was like he was hit by a truck.

"No master? What do you mean?"

She rolled her eyes. "No person has command seals to control us, idiot, we are completely independent. Now fix my uncle!"

No master. She had no master. He had no master. That probably meant Arturia had no master as well...

Avenger wanted to scream. He was the only one with a master... if Nero and Caligula were brought into this world just like he and Arturia was, why was he the only one with a master? Why was he the only one who had to be controlled!?

He remembered his first time talking to Anksheram, when he was still Shirou.

 _'"Yes! Shirou Emiya, this is your prize for winning the Fifth Holy Grail War! The World still owed you a wish for winning, but it can't grant the wish now that the Holy Grail is gone. It will, however, allow me to take you away without any issue as your repayment for winning! That's what happened with your servant, she wanted to start over so I took her to my universe!"_

 _"But... but the Grail was corrupted, was it not?"_

 _He was met with silence._

 _"Hello?"_

 _"...the others didn't bring that up. You're smarter than I took you for, Shirou, and I don't appreciate that..."'_

Others. Ankhseram had said others and he didn't even notice. There were more. And of all of them, he was the only one with a master... because he brought up one simple fact about the blasted Holy Grail.

He won the stupid cup! He was the winner yet everyone else got the better end of the deal?

Nero glared at the gash that was now covering half of Caligula's broad chest.

"No!" she growled. "This cut can be healed. I don't care what stupid sword that Skognug thing is! This wound will stop growing **_immediately_**!"

Skofnung shattered in his hands, making his eyes widen.

He knew of that power, but didn't believe it was real.

Imperial Privilege... the emperors prerogative. In Rome, the emperor was god, their words were absolute. If Nero said the sky was pink and grass was yellow, then that became fact. Her word was so powerful that she could will things to happen...

She was so royal that even Skofnung's curse had to listen to her.

"Haha! Success!" she gloated when she noticed Caligula's wound stopped growing, staring at Avenger with the 'I'm-better-than-you' look that reminded him of Gilgamesh. "I know I should deal with you right now," she said to Avenger, "but my uncle's safety comes first! Also you're kinda cute..."

Avenger was caught off guard and blushed.

Nero snapped her fingers and the sound of troops running towards them could be heard. Avenger was too tired to test his luck against an entire battalion of Roman soldiers and ran.

He could hear soldiers yelling behind him, which only made him run faster. The drain from using Skofnung was starting to set in and made his feet feel like jelly, but he bolted through the destroyed city.

Avenger turned a corner and suddenly ran into what felt like a brick wall. He landed on his back and stared at what he ran into.

He froze.

It wasn't a wall he ran into, but a man. Seven feet tall with thighs bigger than Avenger's chest. He was like a slightly smaller Hercules, with the same grey skin tone that looked so inhuman. The tank of a man barely wore armor, only having necessities covered, and having thick spaulders and a massive roman style helmet with red plumage.

He was clearly roman.

Kanshou lashed out at the man, but it was blocked by a simple gladius.

"Calm down!" another voice ordered. "We're not with Rome, we're with Stella!"

Avenger looked to his left and noticed a decently built man with brown hair, a thick mustache, two wicked wounds on the right side of his face, and the attire of a Stella soldier.

"You are not an oppressor," the behemoth of the man spoke, "we are not enemies."

It wasn't like Avenger had the energy to fight, so he dismissed his weapons and stared at the duo warily.

"Who are you?"

"We should be the ones asking that," the regular sized man said. "I am Zash Caine, royal guard to the king of Stella."

"I am Spartacus," the tank said, making Avenger's throat go dry.

 _Crap_.

Zash offered his hand.

"General Hannibal would like to speak to you."

... Avenger was now certain his Noble Phantasm was actually the mythical F-ranked luck.


	7. Chapter 7

**Mystogan** did not like being confused. His ability to keep his lid on and stay partial to many things was something he was proud of. It was something his father, a king, had hammered into the prince's skull since a young age - before his father went insane, of course. Few things made him upset or bothered.

Being confused was one of those things.

Ever since he came from Edolas, another dimension, to Earthland, he'd been traveling the world and experiencing many things. Mystogan understood he didn't know everything, and that nothing was too out of the ordinary.

Arturia Dreyar and the newcomer, a man named Bedivere, was out of the ordinary. Nothing about the entire scenario made sense and that confused Mysogan - which made him slightly upset.

He kept his lid on only because he trusted Arturia. Everyone in Fairy Tail trusted her with their lives. Realizing that Arturia was almost a perfect human being seemed to be a right of passage in Fairy Tail, as she humbly proved her superiority in a variety of ways.

For him, it was when he caught glimpse of her sword. He had coincidentally been in the guild when a member named Jet barged in screaming that a mission went sideways. Everyone had been asleep, and since he was the cause of everyone's slumber, he volunteered to assist them.

Apparently team Shadow Gear, a three man cell, had been on a mission with Arturia before she was a household name. It was an extermination mission to dispatch some strange snake demons that came from the hills. The demons were the offspring of a Book of Zeref. The fact that the demon could birth hundreds of giant snakes wasn't even the worst part, every snake had venom so powerful it could kill trees (a member of Shadowgear used plant magic, so it was easy to confirm).

When he arrived the two remaining members of Shadow Gear were in a village, nursing their wounds. One was exhausted from continuous use of magic and the other had been grazed by one of the snake's fang and was in critical condition. They told him that Arturia had stayed behind to hold the monsters off, and Mystogan was almost certain that the knight had fallen.

But when he went to the hills Arturia was still fighting - _days_ _later_. Despite the constant swarm of poisonous monsters that didn't allow her a single minute to rest, Arturia had cleaved her way all the way to the demon's mountain lair. Mystogan joined the fight against the Book of Zeref and its hundreds of offspring, but he knew it was a losing fight.

Until the magic making Arturia's sword vanished and she raised her blade.

Excalibur, she called, and in its light Mystogan saw a _dream._

The entire mountain, every single demon and any doubt Mystogan had about Fairy Tail and Arturia were destroyed that day. That day turned him into a believer - miracles did happen.

He _trusted_ Arturia, which was why he instantly came to her defense when the Garou Knights doubted her.

Not that Mystogan really blamed the Garou Knights for being skeptical - they just didn't realize the wonder of Arturia Pendragon yet. The newcomers did attack, and some of those arrows were aimed too close to the princess for comfort, but if Arturia trusted the man named Bedivere then Mystogan would too.

After Bedivere bowed and called Arturia _my leige_ of all things, the two were quick to stop any more conflict from happening. Bedivere had quickly ordered his men to stand down, and spent the better part of ten minutes bowing and profusely apologizing for almost causing his king harm. The Garou Knights didn't want to stand down, but a few glares from a Pendragon shut down any protests.

Injuries from the small squabble were practically non-existent as well. One of the soldiers got a large cut from Kama's scythe, but it looked much worse than it actually was. He'd end up with a scar, but nothing crippled except possible his pride - not that Mystogan particularly cared.

Hisui, the only official royalty present, was thoroughly confused, which was the case with every one not blonde it seemed.

"Arturia, why is he calling you that?" Fiore's princess asked.

"We have... history together," Arturia said, which would have made Mystogan scoff if he was a lesser man. Arturia sighed at Hisui's look, realizing that her explanation wasn't going to cut it. "Sir Bedivere has never proven me wrong before," she added, "he won't cause any harm to me. In fact, I trust him with my life."

"Your words honor me, my lord," Bedivere said.

"That doesn't answer her question," he noted, admittedly in an uncharacteristic fashion. He was just a _little_ annoyed about being so out of the loop.

"Because she is the once and future king!" Bedivere exclaimed, looking amused at the look of exasperation on Arturia's face.

* * *

When they arrived at the camp, **Arturia** marveled at the size of it. Amassing a group of soldiers nearly five hundred strong (by the looks of it) was difficult back in her old life. But in this world? Joining a guild and becoming family with them was considered part of _the_ life a person could live in Earthland.

She knew here were corporation guilds that hired thousands, but quality and loyalty was always an issue with the idea. Usually young, unproven mages entered corporation guilds to gain access to missions and resources in order to build their reputation. Once they gained a good enough reputation to get invitations from a guild they otherwise would have never gotten in to, they leave and never turned back. Usually, if a guild had more than a hundred members, they were part of that model.

This wasn't the case. As they walked into the camp, Arturia could easily notice that every soldier were obviously veterans of their craft. None of them looked green. No wet behind the ear mages were part of an army that the great Bedivere was apart of. Even with her limited sensing abilities, she could sense how large the congregation of magic was even for a group so large.

Which made the interior of the camp shocking. Once they broke through the perimeter defenses, the scene went from impressive to surprising. A large amount of grizzled, powerful looking mages were scattered all around injured. Doctors and injured soldiers wandered around the camp busily, all trying to help other soldiers in need.

Her strategical intuition was confident that Bedivere was a member of a top quality army, and that perplexing since something absolutely ransacked it.

Members of the army eyed them warily, but being in Bedivere's company seemed to keep them calm. Numbers of soldiers came to Bedivere as they walked through the camp, each reporting information to him about everything. Injury reports, the path of travel, the supply of rations, the weather forecast... her former knight had busied himself in this new world.

"These guys have been through the wringer," Kamika noted, an almost apologetic expression on her face.

"'Tis the case, unfortunately," Bedivere replied with a sigh.

"Were you attacked by Rome?" Kama asked.

A dry laugh came from Bedivere. "No no... much more embarrassing than that." He caught note of the curious expression they had. "To be completely forwards with you, I'm not quite sure what attacked us. Our commanding officer will know more than I do."

He led them to a larger, less injured soldier ridden, tent.

"Arturia and Princess Hisui can enter, the others are not permitted," he told them.

Neppa took a step towards him. "Now wait right there -"

"Neppa," Arcadios warned, making the large man stop before something went wrong. "Sir Bedivere, are you sure that not even I can accompany you as King Toma's head knight?"

"I... I suppose that would be alright." Bedivere gave the Garou Knights and Mystogan a friendly smile. "If you take a left and take another left once you get to a red tent, you'll find the commons. There you'll find food and a place to cool down. I've instructed my men to spread the word of your arrival, they'll treat you like you're one of us."

The Knights seemed hesitant to leave in unfamiliar territory, but Arcadios reassured them with a nod.

"After you, my lord," Bedivere told her and opened the tent, stopping Arcadios and Hisui. "My commander would like to talk to Sir Pendragon privately for a few moments..."

Inside was a setup she was quite familiar with. The walls of the tent was riddles with maps, all covered in writing and diagrams that showed different paths strategies, there were communication lacrima (which were like those phone things Shirou had) all around, and in the middle of the tent there was a large table with another map laid across it.

"King Arthur!" a feminine voice cried, and Arturia was blindsided by a flash.

Arturia felt the breath leave her as she was engulfed in a bear hug. Bedivere offered her a weak smile from the side as she struggled to break the vice grip. Eventually she was let down and stared at the perpetrator.

She was... beautiful, extremely beautiful. A well endowed woman with red hair and blue eyes that were staring at her warmly. What really drew Arturia's attention was the golden crown on her head and the white cape she wore - royalty, perhaps?

"How are you, Arthur, or Arturia! How were your travels? Was it tiring? Surely you're hungry, right? Would you like a galette? I make an amazing galette that I'm sure you'll enjoy!"

Arturia gulped at the doting she was receiving, and ignored the pangs of hunger she had just at the mention of food.

"I am doing fine. Our journey has not been too taxing, but I would enjoy a gallete, Queen..." Aturia could only assume she was a queen with such a crown.

"Boudica!" the redhead answered cheerily, pulling out a phenomenal smelling basket filled with pastries that Arturia hadn't noticed. "I have peach galettes, blueberry, walnut, apple... here! Take as many as you like!"

Arturia found herself looking back and forth from the basket filled with pastries that was shoved into her hands and the women who claimed she was _the_ Boudica, a legendary queen of the Iceni tribe who rallied Britannia against the Roman empire, only to lose. Boudica had died centuries before Arturia drew Caliburn, but she still knew of the tale. Boudica's legend was known enough for her to become a heroic spirit, it seemed, which was the only explanation of why she was here and happily passing out french cuisine

Arturia bowed. "An honor to meet you, Queen Boudica."

"I should be bowing to you, King Arthur," Boudica replied, giving a bow of her own. "You are the one who protected Brittania - something I could not do."

"I disagree," she rebuked, drawing a surprised look from Boudica. " I failed Brittania with my lack of vision."

"You're so hard on yourself, Arthur. You were truly a great king. Every spirit from the throne of heroes knows of your legend. Your story is one of the greatest across our old world."

"Entering the throne of heroes means that one did not accomplish what they wished to," Arturia said as she set down the basket of pastries. "Name a hero from the throne who actually had a happy ending - a handful at most."

Boudica pursed her lips and stared at Arturia deeply, before sighing slightly. "Both Kay and Gareth said you had a guilt complex, but I really didn't expect it to be that bad," she chuckled at the look of shock on Arturia's face, "come on Arthur, you're not a king anymore. We're in a completely new world! Let go of that cynicism you needed to run a kingdom."

"Kay?" she echoed, thinking of her foster brother she had long forgotten about.

Boudica's grin grew. "Gareth too. Not just them as well - Tristan, Lancelot, Galahad, Agravain, Bors, Gawain, Palamedes and Percival have all been blessed with a chance of a new adventure - of course you've reacquainted with Bedivere."

"All of them..." she muttered, her head spinning, "how? How are eleven knights brought here? How are you even here?" She started to snack on a galette despite being thoroughly confused.

"Well, I imagine in a similar fashion to you, Sir Arthur. After the Grail was destroyed the throne was in shambles. I'm not completely sure how, but I woke up in Caelum along with everyone else in our guild."

Some of Britannia's greatest heroes randomly finding themselves in a new world?

There was only one explanation. Boudica may not know how, but Arturia had her own guesses.

It had to be Ankhseram.

* * *

Awestruck, starstruck, fear stricken. **Avenger** didn't know. The entire day from the second he set out from Grimoire Heart was suddenly a blur. So much had happened, so much he would have never expected. He was confused. More confused, angry and scared than he ever felt since arriving at Earthland. To him, it was probably up there with the Fifth Holy Grail War and the Fuyuki Fire.

Being escorted from fighting one of Rome's most infamous emperors to a meeting with _the_ Hannibal of Carthage. His guide was also a tree sized man who was also had an infamous history - Spartacus.

It was like a bastardized version of the Holy Grail War, but this time there wasn't any rules.

"This city is so beautiful," Zash said as they walked through Stella's capital city. Avenger found it hard to agree with the state the hanging city was in, absolute chaos from the war knocking on its doorsteps. The people looked scared - the entire city radiated with fear. Whatever beauty Zash saw in it Avenger couldn't see.

"We fight to defend the beauty," Zash clarified. "Stella has a history and culture that can't be destroyed no matter how hard Rome tries."

Zash's devotion and love for his home was admirable. They were faced with a threat that this world had never experienced before and could still look on the bright side. Avenger had trouble seeing greener pastures since he was the one who became Caligula's punching bag.

When they made it close to the castle Avenger instantly noted the lack of disarray. The water was tranquil and not even a single blade of grass seemed out of place - which must have been due to the large group of gardeners tending to the area. None of the gardeners or employees of the castle seemed happy. Fear was everywhere.

"In here," Zash ushered him into a large war room. In there was three men - actually two men and a boy. A rather portly man with a crown waved them towards him the second they entered, the boy seemed shy.

"My lord," Zash bowed, "we have returned from patrol."

"And who is this?" the other man, an old man with completely tattered clothes and a brown cloak, asked. The man looked like he was in his sixties to seventies, but with a certain spryness that reminded him of Zeltrech - scarily. There was also a black cloth tied around his head and over his right eye.

"He fought off Caligula," Zash said.

The old man looked at him with a calculative gleam. Avenger didn't move.

"Who're you?" the man spoke after a few moments.

"Avenger," he replied automatically.

The man's face broke as he cackled wildly. "Another one joins the battle," he rejoiced, "one look at your get up and I could tell you're not from around here, boy. Now what are you doing in my war?" He reached over to a table and grabbed a bowl of raspberries, shoveling them into his mouth before grimacing. "These are too bitter!" he threw the entire bowl to the ground. "Get me better ones!"

"You're Hannibal?" Avenger couldn't believe it.

"So what?" Hannibal rolled his eyes. "Avenger my tail! What's your actual name, boy!"

"Shirou. Emiya Shirou." It felt good to say his name again.

Hannibal blew a raspberry at him, "Never heard of you... geez. You best be one of those spirits who give themselves a new name or you're gonna be useless to me. No spirit from your area can deal with Rome."

"I'm just Shirou," Avenger said, "but I've been summoned as Avenger. I made it to the throne of heroes fair and square - I even won a holy grail war with Gilgamesh, Heracles and King Arthur." He didn't want to boast, but being summoned as and Avenger added a spiteful edge to him that Hannibal's comments brought out.

"And did all your dreams come true?" Hannibal laughed mockingly at the look on his face. "I see! Boy none of the heroes I know have a master - you're a first! ironic since you won the worthless cup."

"I've noticed," he said dryly.

Hannibal was handed another bowl of raspberries and sat down on the table, dangling his feet. "Get out of here you two," he pointed at the the king and prince and then to the door, "you buggers aren't gonna win this war, so scram!"

Surprisingly the regular humans looked used to Hannibal's attitude and left quietly despite the fact Hannibal so disrespectfully told the king to sod off. Well, if Hannibal was the general the stories made him out to be, it was the price to pay for genius.

"Now that the royal idiot is gone," Hannibal started now that there were only heroic spirits in the room, "why are you here, Emiya? There's other spirits out there, but they're usually spawned in numbers and travel in packs - forming those guilds this world is so fond of. Seeing a spirit on his own is rare, let alone one stupid enough to waltz into a warzone. Either you're as dull as Spartacus over there or that master of yours is a real bitch."

Spartacus, ironically, didn't seem to pick up the insult.

"Honestly it's a little bit of both. My..." Avenger loathed to admit it, "guild master doesn't like Rome and sent me to assist."

"Nobody likes Rome, but to stand against it means the dislike runs deeper. Is your master a hero too?"

"No, he just realizes that Rome isn't going to stop with Stella." His intelligence stats were too high for him to walk in and casually and mention that he knew about Stella's superweapon. If he was to retrieve it he'd have to plan for the perfect moment - however long that took.

"Anyone with half a brain knows that. Those pretentious bastards think that Rome owns everything and they just had to win it back. Cancer... that's what they are." Hannibal smirked. "Seeing the look on those self righteous bastards whenever I beat their army makes my entire damn year. If you just want to fight then you joined the wrong side. I play to win."

"I've always been an underdog myself," he admitted. "Rome's arrogance will be their downfall - its happened before."

"It will, but not without a an outside force. They've gotten better and won't implode again." Hannibal practically growled. "Not only is there Caligula and Nero... they have that bastard Scipio, Julius Ceasar and the founder of Rome itself. They got Caesar and his silver tongue watching their home with the wolf spawn, while the other three go out and conquer."

The situation was worse than he thought. Five heroic spirits compared to three. They're tales were debatebly on Cu Chulains level, and Avenger remembered the dog of war well enough to be wary.

Not even that... there was the wolf spawn. If his hunch was right, then Rome was even more powerful than he assumed. Nero, Julius Ceasar and Scipio were figures great enough to have stories about them. They were revered as legends by many.

And then there was someone who Nero, Julius Ceasar and Scipio revered as a legend. A hero among heroes.

Hannibal chuckled at the look on his face. "Still want to be an underdog now?" he asked, amused. "Cause if you just came here to fight you're better off joining Rome and standing a chance."

What a master he had... making him jump into a situation like this.

"Where's the fun in that?"

Spartacus laughed loudly and slapped him on the back, almost making him fall over.

"That's the spirit!" Spartacus praised. "You notice that there's still a fire in his eyes, right Hannibal? As long as he has heart I'll fight alongside him."

"If that's what you wish, but," Hannibal's eyes narrowed, "the fire seems to be dimming? Tell me, boy. Why did you become a heroic spirit? The look in you eyes... there's a fire but any day it's gonna go out. Why?"

Completely caught off guard, Avenger hesitated.

Hannibal nodded. Avenger's hesitance was enough of an answer for him. "If you didn't want to come here then you're best bet is to leave this place and make your master waste his command seals. There's no point in having someone else ruin your new chance in this world by sending you to war."

"Why are you here then?" Avenger countered, looking for a way around the topic.

"Cause I want to!" Hannibal grinned. "I wasn't even a heroic spirit, but when I heard Scipio became one I reconsidered. Soon after the grail was destroyed and I ended up here. The second I heard Rome was back with Scipio as a general - I found my calling."

"You just want to fight?"

"No! I don't just want to fight... I want to fight Scorpio! There's a difference!"

Avenger couldn't see the difference.

* * *

After accepting that Boudica was a childish young woman, thrusted into a difficult position of leadership as a young woman and strangely addicted to a _french_ delicacy of all things... conversation was actually rather easy, **Arturia** realized.

Queen to King. Ruler to ruler. Boudica understood her better than anyone else had... except her former master, perhaps.

"Your men," Arturia spoke, "what happened to them?

Boudica's childish expression and revealed the hardened look of a commander who had been thrown into war. "Many were injured in a battle almost a fortnight ago. We have been actively transporting some home, but there are still more that have yet to return. Until then we camp here and wait for reinforcements for our attack of Rome."

"Rome? You're going after them?" Arturia was astonished, she had only recently heard of them after returning from her long mission, but tales of it's prowess was starting to grow - and she was quite familiar with the name.

Indeed we are," Boudica said with a nod. "Rome was a blight on our old world, and is now trying to corrupt this one." Hatred burned in the queen's eyes. "They shall not subjugate this world."

It was to be expected. Boudica's rise and subsequent demise was built around fighting the oppression of Rome. According to legend she made a vow to the Goddess of Victory, Andraste, that she would have vengeance on the Romans no matter what. It was probably as if someone told her Kirie Kotomine and Gilgamesh were in the next town over - she'd do everything to destroy them.

"Did Rome attack your men?" They were told that their path was clear of any Rome forces for miles.

Boudica shook her head. "No... it would help my pride if we were defeated by an army of soldiers, but that is not the case. Our numbers were in thousands, and yet were completely outmatched and devastated... by a single person. No... saying that was a person is too far. A monster - an alien. Not human. It couldn't be human with power like that."

"A single being so powerful? Is it from the throne?"

"I believe so. The warrior did not speak once as she slew hundreds of my men and injured thousands more, but I fear I know who it might be." Arturia was listening intently. Boudica had a haunted look on her face, like she had seen a ghost. "During the battle, Bedivere and I were both in combat with her - it - and the only thing that it said was that it acknowledged our strength. I asked it who it was... what it was, and what it wanted."

"What did it say?"

"I shall call it a she for the sake of our conversation, but I cannot stress it enough Arturia, I do not think it is a being born of man. _She_ said that she was going to Rome, and that she was going to kill every Roman alive like she should've last time. We were just in the way and she felt like fighting us."

Picking a fight with an army simply because you wanted to? And winning? Arturia shifted uncomfortably. That was something Iskander would do, or Gilgamesh, or even Heracles. To even think that a hero of that caliber was heading to Rome... Stella was to be avoided, especially with the Princess with her.

"As for her name?" Boudica continued. "She did not give us her real name, she said names were meaningless. Instead she gave us a title that described her far beter than any name could."

"What?"

"The Scourge of God."

* * *

 **Authors note: Spoiler alert... Shirou is going to have a bad couple of days.**

 **Imperial Privileged was misused last chapter, but can we just agree that Nero is simply badass and can probably do that?**

 **EDIT: writing this story has been difficult, if anyone is interested in being a beta or a soundboard so mistakes like imperial privilege does happen, please PM.**

 **Also in regards to Erza Versus Shirou, Shirou was holding back when they fought. He just wanted to hold them off. If they ever do battle again, we all know the obvious winner, by a long shot, would be -**


End file.
